Recover

When we began this project in 2017, the recommendations of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission were on everybody’s mind. As members of OCAD University’s Indigenous Visual Culture program we were stirred by the possibility of social change and a better way forward for Indigenous peoples. We saw the Uncover/Recover project as an opportunity to positively contribute to a new era of cultural vitality for our communities and ourselves. For many of us, uncovering and interacting with the objects in the Royal Ontario Museum was a way to express our own creativity and give voice to traditions and life ways that were in danger of being forgotten. For some of us, our encounter with the objects was a way home.

The Uncover/Recover project is complex and technical and strained our art and design skills to the limit. We became so intensely focused on the goals of the undertaking that it took many months to realize the deeper implications of the process we had begun. But slowly a richer narrative has come into view. We’ve begun to see that the objects we’ve been studying still have work to do.

And though this work has been interrupted by their isolation in the museum the objects can and must continue to recover their place in our culture. Furthermore, our task to awaken the repository of cultural knowledge they contain is a critical part of our own creative work.

But we realized something else as well.

Our focus cannot rest solely on the objects in the ROM collection, for they are not alone in needing to recover. This project has laid bare many of our deepest personal hurts and traumatic memories. While crafting creative responses to the objects has offered relief from the collective pain of our ancestral history, some of us have suffered in the process and continue to suffer very deeply. We must attend to the need for healing urgently.

The Uncover/Recover project has taught us that the journey to recovery will be long and difficult for the objects, our communities, and our selves. It is a journey we have now begun.

Recover (Ojibwe)

Apii gii-maajitoowaang owe izhichigewin 2017 gii-izhiseg, gaa-gii-ikidoomagak imaa Kanada-akiing Debwewin gaye /// gii-mikwenjigaade. Niinawin imaa gaa-ayaayaang OCAD gichi-gikendaasoowigamigong ganage daa-onji-ozhi’oomagan oshki-inendamowin ji-onji-mino-wiijiiwiding gaye ji-onji-minosewaad Anishinaabeg niigaan ani-akiiwang. Amii enendamaang ji-on ji-ozhichigaadeg gegoon daabishkoo ji-bimaadiziimagak izhitwaawin gidazhiikewinaaning gaye giinawind. Amii gaa-inendamaang gii-dazhiikamaang ono gete-gegoonan ROM gaa-onjiimagakin egashkitooyaang ji-oshki-mazinichigeyaang gaye ji-noondaagwakin ini gete-gegoonan ge-gii-waniikenindaagwakin. Amii gaa-inendamaang edazhiikamaang ono gete-gegoonan daabishkoo egiiweyaang.

Owe izhichigewin aapiji gii-zanagendaagwan e-ozhichigaadeg. Aapiji nin-gii-gichi-anokaadaamin gaa-gii-inendamaang ji-ozhitoowaang. Ginwesh dash gii-izhise jibwaa-gikendamaang wegonen iwe mayaa ngwana ezhichigeyaang. Noongom dash ndani-waabandaamin dibaajimowin. Amii ezhi-waabandamaang ono gete-gegoonan giiyaabi iinzan da-anokiimaganoon. Aanawi gii-gibitinigaadewan ono gete-gegoonan gii-anokiimagakin, gii-achigaadegin gaa-izhi-ganawenjigaadegin gete-gegoonan.

Zhaagooch dash da-bigiiwemaganoon ji-anokiimagakin gidizhitwaawininaang. Gaye dash amii ge-inanokiiyaangiban ji-amajitoowaang akina iwe Anishinaabe gikendaasowin gaa-ayaamagak imaa.

Gegoo dash gaye miinawaa nin-gii-onji-gikendaamin.

Gaawiin eta ono gete-gegoonan gi-daa-dazhiikanziimin, gaawiin aaniish ini eta ayaamagazinoonan ge-giiwe-mino-ayaagibaniin. Owe gii-dazhiikamaang izhichigewin nin-gii-maajii-gikendaamin wiinge iinzan nimookibidoomin niibiwa gegoo gaa-gagwaadagendamaang. Aanawi nindoonji-noojimomin gii-ozhitoowaang mazinichiganan, gii-mookobidoowaang gakina gaa-bi-izhi-gagwaadagi’igooying gii-anishinaabewiying, giiyaabi dash nimaanendaamin gaawiin mashi ni-boonji-maanendaziimin. Amii ezhinaagwak wewiib ji-gagwe-nana’isidooying iwe maanendamowin.

Amii ezhi-waabandamaang ginwesh da-izhise ji-aabajitooying ini gete-gegoonan, gaye imaa gaa-izhi-dazhiikeying gaye giinawind. Amii aazha gii-maajitaaying ji-bimoseying iwe miikana.