Power, Peace and Presence +
kiskisiwin ᑭᐢᑭᓯᐃᐧᐣ: Remembering
Rebecca Pickard
The Works Giant Gateway Mural
Digitally adapted by Jason Symington
Part of Holiday Light Up in Downtown Edmonton
November 20, 2021 to January 2, 2022
Churchill Square, Downtown Edmonton
Power, Peace and Presence, 2021, by Rebecca Pickard. Imagery digitally adapted for The Works Gateway by Jason Symington. Photo by Taiessa Pagola.
kiskisiwin ᑭᐢᑭᓯᐃᐧᐣ: Remembering, 2021. Rebecca Pickard in collaboration with Zéa Piquette and Riel Piquette. Imagery digitally adapted for The Works Gateway by Jason Symington. Photo by Taiessa Pagola.
As the white bison signals, the birth of a new earth looms. We are undeniably living in times of great change.
Where we stand in Treaty 6 territory, on the plains of amiskwaciy-wâskahikan, the peaceful and powerful bison once roamed in millions. Like all living beings, they were born from the stars. Cleared away to make room for towering colonial structures, the bison persisted through generations of death. Now, under the guidance of constellations like spirit markers, they thrive once again.
With the fortitude of the bison, steadfast to the knowing rhythms of nature, we must usher in a new world. We are called to walk this earth. We carry all the medicine we need within our very beings. We must remember that we came from the stars. We carry the wisdom of the cosmos in our bodies.
About the Artist
Rebecca Pickard is a Métis mixed media artist and educator from amiskwaciy-wâskahikan in treaty 6 territory. A self-taught artist, she started painting shortly after the birth of her second child 11 years ago. Her art has been featured at Deep Freeze Festival, Kaleido Arts Festival, Skirts A Fire, Edmonton Poetry Festival, NextFest, Flying Canoë Volant, and #YEGCanvas transitory billboard exhibition. Pickard taught art at Victoria school of the arts for several years and currently leads the art program at Alex Janvier School. She is entering her second year as the visual art curator for the NextFest Arts Company.
Visit https://www.rebeccapickard.org/ for more information.