“The Art of Truth and Reconciliation” by George Littlechild

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George Littlechild, "Indigenous Wonder Woman," 2017

Unveiling Reception, March 9 @7pm

Artist in attendance.

George Littlechild, through his art-practice discusses identity displacement and cultural genocide from his own personal experience. George was part of a large-scale scoop where aboriginal children were taken from their home communities and placed into white adoptive or foster families in the 1950s and ’60s. It wasn’t until George was in his twenties that he reconnected with the Hobbema community where his birth family were from and met aunts, uncles, and siblings he never knew he had. Unfortunately, George’s birth parents had passed away before he had a chance to meet them. George’s mother had attended a residential school, as did both his grandparents. George delivers his work to audiences to create a dialogue between both the Aboriginal communities and the Colonial communities as a method of healing through shared experience.

Art of Truth and Reconciliation” will be opened with a prayer by Elder Wilson Bearhead. The students at Pine Street Elementary School, under the guidance of Elder Wilson Bearhead, will also be performing a smudging ceremony as well as traditional drumming and an original song written in keeping with First Nations tradition of storytelling through music. George Littlechild will be the Artist in Residence at Pine Street Elementary the week following the opening of his exhibition. Here George will facilitate workshops and guide the students in creating an artwork themed in “social justice” as a part of the ‘Project of Heart’, a Canada wide program directed at teaching students about the Indian Residential Schools and their effects on children, families and communities.

This exhibition marks the an important new direction for Gallery@501; moving forward we will present an annual exhibition in partnership with indigenous people and in acknowledgement of the Treaty 6 land that we share with the Cree and Métis people.

Gallery@501 would like to acknowledge and thank the Edmonton Community Foundation for their support of this exhibit and Artist in Residence program with Pine Street Elementary School. We would also like to thank Strathcona County for their continued support and the Festival Place Cultural Arts Foundation for their ongoing support of our art education programs. A special thank you also goes out to Elder Wilson Bearhead for his direction and guidance.