How can art and text reflect both the history and our current place in time?

Introduction:

This humanities project was centred on learning about the relation between Canada and it’s history with Indigenous people. The final result of this project being a collage related to an Indigenous issues. I found this project interesting since I went into more in-depth on how problems Indigenous communities faced today occurred. Overall, this project made me reflect on many parts of Canada’s dark past.

I am From Poem:

This poem was suppose to showcase our view on Canada and a point to reflect on at the end of the project. For me personally, I don’t think this poem show my actually view on Canada since I feel as though I just made stuff up. This is due to me not really knowing what to write. If I were going to do this project again I would try to make a poem that would actually showcase who I am as a person. Overall, this was a good starting point for this practically project. 

Keystone 1:

In this keystone we read a book called The Marrow Thieves and had to reflect on how the book related to Canada presently and historically. This futuristic dystopian books follows a Métis main character, name Frenchie who has to leave his home due to the fact the people have started to harvest Indigenous people’s bone marrow in order to dream again. For me personally, I though the books writing was average. I had issues with the writing concerning the romance and pacing in some parts of the book. However, I think the overall story was good and wished there was more world building since I find the setting of the book to be extremely interesting.  I also though that it defiantly related many of it’s story element to events that has happened in Canada’s past to discriminate against Indigenous people. I believe I did amazing on this part of the project since I did a contribution for each chapter when the minimum was six contribution and wrote a well written piece on the connections between real life and the book. Overall, I’m proud of the work done in this keystone. 

Keystone 2:

For this part of the project we had to writer multiple papers on Indigenous issues and how the connect to an Indigenous artwork. I found this part of the project to be my favourite because I learned quite a lot about multiple different types of Indigenous problems.

The first part was an Indigenous issues related to a government fact. I mainly focused on Residential schools and the Potlatch law. I believe that I kind of rushed both of my articles and I think I could of made both of them a lot better if I did some quick edits before handing it in.  However, I think I learned so much on why specifically Residential schools were wrong and the history of the Potlatch banned.

The second part was to write a piece concerning an issue present in Indigenous culture and an art pieces that reflects this. I wrote two again for this part of the project, one on addiction and one on inter generational trauma. I believe that I did very well on this part of the project and learned my mistake from part one of this keystone. I believe both of my written pieces of well researched and showcase a good understanding only my topic

The third part was to write about a civil conflict and find an artwork relating to the information found. I chose missing and murdered Indigenous due to thinking it would be an interesting topic to delve into. I think I did a great job at explaining the issues by using many different sources. I also went through many drafts before submitting my paper. Overall, this keystone helped me to understand the history behind Canada and it’s Indigenous peoples. 

Keystone 3:

For this part of the project, I was tasked with creating both a reflection and collage connecting to the history of Canada. 

My reflection was about how my view of Canada has changed from I am from poem. Basically, I said that my view of Canada hasn’t really changed since I’ve heard of the terrible stuff Canada has done before. Moreover, the one things has changed is how much more detail I now know of the events and issues in the Indigenous community. 

The collage was a way to represent an Indigenous issue or issues through artwork. I specifically want focus mine on the harmful impact on residential schools. You can see in the photo what I wanted each picture to represent and how I planned to create it. I used procreate in order to create my final college and used free stock images of paper online to make each part have a slight different style. 

Core Competence:

Analyzing: I can identify, analyze and represent supportable conclusions having evaluated relevance, authenticity and bias from variety of sources

I personally feel that I have fully met this competence. This through how I analyzed the book that we were reading in class, The Marrow Thieves. I wrote more reflection and created more contribution than was needed which shows how I evaluated many different parts of this book. Moreover, I supported my theories with evidence and talked about my thoughts on certain events in the book. 

Moreover, in my keystone 2, I created multiple articles that include facts and quotes in order to come to an unbiased conclusion. Moreover, I use multiple sources in order to come to an honest conclusion and to get a full perspective on the issue.                                                           

Decision Making: I can evaluate ethical implication and make complex judgements while identifying and respecting diverse communities 

I believe that I have somewhat met this competence. This is shown in my Marrow thieves journal reflection where I explain the connection between the book and real life. However, I feel as though I didn’t delve deep enough into the implications and hardship the Indigenous community had and still have to go through. 

Communicating: I can express and reflect for communication by determine appropriate and effective forms for purpose, audience and messages

I believe I have fully met this competence. This is mainly through my collage and the multiple reflection I have completed in this project. In my collage I believe that I effectively communicate the message of each part of my art piece through careful planning . Moreover, in each of the reflections I have created in this project I focus on one or two messages which I communicate through evidence and well thought-out explanations. 

Conclusion:

Overall, this project helped me to better understand how Canada became the country we know it as today. This project taught me a lot about Indigenous issues while being engaging. Learning about the past helped me to better understand the state of the Indigenous community today and how that happened. Overall, learning about history gives people a better understand of the present.