An Excerpt From My Truth and Reconciliation Paper Describing My Aesthetic Representation
“Namwayut (We Are All One)”
For my aesthetic representation, I chose to do a drawing that is titled “Namwayut (We Are All One). My inspiration came from a video on truth and reconciliation spoken by Chief Robert Joseph, who is a residential school survivor, the ambassador for Reconciliation Canada, and the chair of the Native American Leadership Alliance for Peace and Reconciliation. In the video, he talked about how Canada acknowledged that we committed cultural genocide, which was the first step to truth and reconciliation. He explained, “We’re trying to look through a new lens, we Canadians, we as Aboriginals, we celebrate each other. Everybody is cheering each other up, as we move towards a more equal and prosperous future for all of us. It must be known that Canada isn’t doing truth and reconciliation; truth and reconciliation is Canada.” In my aesthetic representation, I drew an Indigenous person and a European person holding hands, representing we are all one. There isn’t one side against the other, both are equal and a team. I drew the feather and Canadian maple leaves to represent both cultures joining together, as indigenous people’s identity and culture are now seen in their home land.
