In the Multiversity Gallery of the Museum of Anthropology, two photographic prints created by Dionne Paul hangs inside a large, tall glass case. Located on the top, Her First Day of School (2013) presents a photograph of the first day of school of Paul’s daughter, while hanging beneath it is a photograph of the same size titled His First Day of School (2013), showing the first day of school of Paul’s son. The photograph was in color with both children smiling but the center parts overlay a black and white rectangular picture of residential school uniforms, replacing the actual clothing of the two. The artist statement describes the contrasting experience between residential school and modern school. While Canadian children began their education with excitement at a safe learning environment, Indigenous children experience the exact opposite, feeling frightened as they head towards a building where they were subjected to an extremely unsafe environment that treated with mental and physical abuse. By creating these works, Paul wants to remind its viewers of this horrifying act conducted by the 139 residential schools.
In contrast to the rest of the gallery which consists mainly of historical artifacts like colorful cultural masks and canoes, Paul’s works were the only modern artwork that incorporated historical contents. By putting this artwork next to historical artworks, Paul could possibly be attempting to tell the viewers that although children nowadays learn about residential schools through their history textbook as part of the “Canadian history”, but in reality, it is a fairly contemporary event that still happened in 1975. It is not as historical as readers of history textbooks think it is and can easily be repeated just as how simple it was to put an old image on top of the new one.
It is crucial to understand what this artwork tries to convey for it reminds viewers of the sinful acts Canadians have conducted in the past. I believe that the artist wished, but did not presume viewers to have prior knowledge of history regarding residential school. Although I have learned about residential school in social studies, I still had to read the artist’s statement in order to understand the message. The plaque provided enough explanation only for viewers to gain a broad idea of the context. Thus, it requires further studies to understand the message embedded within the artwork, which is the most significant part. It was what I have read and studied that allowed me to have a better understanding of the message that Paul tries to deliver. Overall, learning about this artwork is a good way to remind people to not take what they have for granted and not forget the wrongdoings they have done in the past.