My aesthetic representation displays a painting of two hands joined together: one is the hand of a residential school survivor and the other is the hand of a white settler, as they work towards reconciliation together. Surrounding the joining hands are quotes by residential school survivors that are mentioned in my essay, as well as Canadian citizens working towards reconciliation. The orange bracelets and flowers surrounding the border of the painting represent how it is every Canadian’s responsibility to work towards reconciliation because “reconciliation is not an aboriginal problem, it is a Canadian problem. It involves all of us” (Justice Murray Sinclair). My aesthetic representation represents my journey towards reconciliation because my journey has been heavily influenced by learning from residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors, and Canadians working towards reconciliation.
