'Each drum has its own story': NSCAD exhibit explores Indigenous language revitalization - Action News
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Nova Scotia

'Each drum has its own story': NSCAD exhibit explores Indigenous language revitalization

Artwork on rawhide hand drums depicts the artists' journeys in learning and honouring their Indigenous language.

Artwork will be on display at the Treaty Space Gallery in Halifax until April 30

drum with petroglyphs painted on it
A drum by artist Jude Gerrard, titled Star Dancers, based on Mi'kmaw petroglyphs located in Kejimkujik and Bedford. (Sis'moqon/CBC)

At the Treaty Space Gallery on NSCAD's port campus in Halifax, 13 meticulously painted hand drums have been hung on the walls, each expressing individual journeys of revitalizing Indigenous languages.

Some are adorned with words in thelanguage of the artists who created them, others feature cultural motifs tied to their language.

"Each drum has its own story," said artist Joshua Schwab-Cartas, who ledthe project,titled Living our Languages,which ismade up of paintings on rawhide drums.

Theexhibit aims todispel the notion that Indigenous languages are disappearing, and speaks to the experience of existing within institutions that aren't built for Indigenous people.

Scholars, artists and researchers affiliated with the university organized and facilitated multiple workshops with local Indigenous artists to create theartwork on the drums featured in this exhibit.

Theworkshops encouraged community-building,bringing together artists with a common goal of expressing their connection to their language.

Woman standing next to drum
Artist Natalie Laurin with her drum, titled G Bay. A ceinture flche, or arrowed sash, surrounds the artwork, which depicts the lively waters of Georgian Bay, where Laurin said she feels most at home and connected to her roots. (Sis'moqon/CBC)

Natalie Laurin, a Mtis exhibitions co-ordinator with the gallery, was part of the team that facilitated the workshops who spoke on the importance of community-building at NSCAD.

"We are a pretty small amount of Indigenous students, staff and faculty here," said Laurin.

"We first gathered and we went around and everyone talked a little bit about where they're from and where they're at, and their language learning journey and destigmatizing [that journey]."

Participants ranged in their level of fluency, she said. Somehad grown up in their language. Otherswere just beginning to learn it.

Laurin saidthe gallery focuses on highlighting stories and contemporary artwork of Indigenous people andtheir relationship to the land, as well as treaties and treaty education.

She created a drum that depicted the land because that is where she feels most connected to her culture.

"That's where I feel most inspired to learn the language," she said.

"I miss home and I wanted to show it on [my drum], and I miss my family from there and sitting at the kitchen table hearing my ppretalk in his French accent with Michif words sprinkled in there."

Man standing by drum
Artist Joshua Schwab-Cartas is pictured with the drum titled Guie' saa, which he created with his daughter, Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis. (Sis'moqon/CBC)

Schwab-Cartas, a Binniz scholar and assistant professor at NSCAD, said the project is "really about celebrating the resiliency of our ancestors and everybody who has sat around that kitchen table teaching us our language whether it's around the table or over Zoom or in my case under a mango tree in our community."

The exhibit is also about representation, feeling seen and carving out a space where Indigenous people feel reflected and honoured,Schwab-Cartas said.

"Most education systems, like mainstream education, don't really take into consideration Indigenous methodologies, needs, agendas and objectives," he said.

"This space wasn't created for us or by us," he added. The exhibit "is a way of telling NSCAD and other institutions that we are an important part of the makeup of universities."

Girl standing next to a drum hanging on the wall
Najeli is pictured with a drum, pictured on the right, which she created in with her father. Titled Guie' saa, which translates to flower celebration, it celebrates their language using designs that are part of women's regalia among Isthmus Binnizas, a Zapotec people. (Sis'moqon/CBC)

Schwab-Cartas collaborated with his eight-year-old daughter, Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis, to create a drum that represents the regalia worn by women in their Binniz culture to honour women and the legacy they carry in his language-learning journey.

"Some of the first words I ever like learnt in my language came from my great-grandmother and my grandmother," he said.

He is learning the language together with his daughter, Najeli, and said he is honouring the strong women in communities that bring their cultural life forward. That includes his daughter, whom he said is "going to be the next matriarch in our family, who can speak about our culture and language."

The exhibit include QR codes that contain stories, songs, or expressions of language from participants and also a browser allowingaccess toNative Land Digital, a website that maps Indigenous territories, treatiesand languages across the world.

Some of the QR codes feature the voices of participants speaking about the drums they created, saidSydney Wreaks, a Kanien'kehkaresearch assistant and facilitator with the project.

Woman standing with three drums surrounding her
Artist Sydney Wreaks is shown next to their drum in the centre of the photo. Titled Onkwehonwe Lakoterihwaien:ni, it means the responsibility of human beings in Kanien'kha kateweinhstha, and represents our relationship with the land. (Sis'moqon/CBC)

"You're going to have some people talking specifically about maybe the design and the history behind that, and how it's tied to their language or singing and going through their languages," Wreakssaid.

The Living our Languagesexhibit runsuntil April 30.

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