ᒫᒥᑐᓀᔨᐦᒋᑲᐣ  ᑯᑖᐄᐧᐤ mâmitonêyihcikan  kotâwîw - my mind digs in the soil like a turtle

 This art piece is inspired by Creation story ᒥᓂᐢᑎᐠ ᒥᐦᑭᓈᕁ Ministik Mihkinâhk  turtle island in Nehiyawewin (Cree) shared by my mother Shirley Norris/Shillinglaw.  While imagining the story and the turtle that gave its life for us. The wonders of the healing powers and the natural world that many in my family healed others. In reflection ᒪᓂᑐ Manito – creator surfaces the concepts of how we can heal ourselves.  This deeper understanding of land is comparative to how neurons in our brains release neurotransmitters that have a calming affect on our senses while we are in nature. 

My reconciliation journey focuses on the loss of languages, and culture this perception to heal ourselves by understanding loss. To honor my ancestors, I have given this title of art Nehiyaw cahkipewasinahikewin – Syllabic writing Plain Nehiyaw/Cree language. ᒫᒥᑐᓀᔨᐦᒋᑲᐣ  ᑯᑖᐄᐧᐤ mâmitonêyihcikan  kotâwîw  my mind digs in the soil like a turtle.

I visualize the wild rose positioned within the landscape where the university hospital on this piece. The flower represents the metis as historically nicknamed; beaded flower people, conceptually a neuron connecting to the land by electrical pulses of the stems and leaves to the lost rivers & lakes and North Saskatchewan river. The image is a Edmonton River Valley and the land towards Big Lake and Sturgeon river of Metis and Cree people have a great understanding of waterways and river plots in the early days of Edmonton.  My ancestors once even traveled in the ‘ghost rivers and lake/ponds stitched White yarn and beads. I assemble this to encourage us to remember, remember, remember… the land as it once was and my ancestors and how they lived within the landscape.