Walking With Our Sisters comes to Thunder Bay Art Gallery

Superior Morning6:09Walking With Our Sisters

The commemorative art installation Walking With Our Sister opens this Friday at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. We'll hear from some of the the people getting the installation ready for viewing.

Volunteers preparing for the Walking With Our Sisters installation at Thunder Bay Art Gallery are finding a sense of community and healing.

The commemorative art installation is comprised of more than 1,700 moccasin vamps (tops) created and donated to honour the unfinished lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

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In the entrance to the gallery, Gerald Hynesgently rips cedar branches into hand-sized pieces to be placed underneath the vamps. Hynes is originally from Newfoundland, but he has an Anishnaabe wife and said he wanted to support her by volunteering here.

"I've always been interested in helping in any way I can," he said. "Onlythrough doing will you get the opportunity to gain insight into the culture."

'Everything is done in ceremony'

A bright red cloth covers the floor inside the gallery as the boxes of vamps are gently unpacked. Each pair is individually wrapped in tissue. Volunteers wearwhite gloves to handle them.

"Everything is done in ceremony," Kara Louttit said. "You can just feel it when you enter in the room. It feels very powerful being here and all of the energy every volunteer is putting forth, it's palpable, you can feel the love and care."

Louttitrecently moved back to Thunder Bay and has been involved in the months of preparations to host the installation. She said the work is helping with her healing journey after the death of her sister.

"Her death was labelled a suicide very quickly [but] there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered," Louttit said. "I miss her every day and this is a way for me to grieve."

'It shows us how we should act together'

Lakehead University students Keifer Sutch and Mike Berdusco were impressed with the warm welcome they received when they showed up to get in some mandatory volunteer hours for one of their classes.

Both said they're learning a lot about the tragedy of missing and murdered women, and other important lessons through their interactions with other volunteers.

"It shows us how we should act together in a community," Sutchsaid. "That's what I've learned is just how welcoming and respectful we should be towards one another."