There are two public art exhibits now on display at Harbourfront’s Ontario Square. The first is “Built on Genocide” by by Jay Soule aka CHIPPEWAR which is part of this year’s Luminato Festival …. “In the mid-19th century, an estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo roamed the prairies, by the late 1880s, fewer than 300 remained. As the buffalo were slaughtered and the prairie ecosystem decimated, Indigenous peoples were robbed of their foods, lands, and cultures. The buffalo genocide became a genocide of the people” (quote source: Luminato website)
below: The centerpiece is a pile of Buffalo skulls.
below: Surrounding the skulls are posters that highlight and criticize government policies towards First Nations including (Prime Minister) Sir John A. Macdonald and his “Magic Eraser”, i.e. the Indian Act of 1876.
below: The poster on the left references the adoption of First Nations children by non-Native families often referred to as the Sixties Scoop because it reached its peak (most adoptions) in the 1960s. The plight of Indigenous women is the subject of the other poster – the disproportionate number of whom have been murdered or went missing.
There is also a display of large photographs by Meryl McMaster.
below: What Will I Say to the Sky and the Earth II.
below: On the Edge of This Immensity
below: As Immense as the Sky
as I walk Toronto 