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The work of the artists on the art web speaks of many wounds and the deep sufferings by our brothers & sisters. Brothers and sisters as described as living an urban street life. All of these works are connected by the web of a spider, you can select an image to follow the web. I found that it is easy to get lost in the web, like a real web you can get tangled in it. I began to look for a story that was not so dark and painful, but I could not find one. They made me feel uncomfortable and disturbed. Images of the Balmoral and the stories of women with their john’s reminded me of our missing and murdered women in Vancouver historic downtown eastside (DTES). It painted the image of the DTES that I knew had always existed.
I grew up in east Vancouver and the DTES was a place we always avoided. It’s not like the DTES you see now with it’s gentrification and new cheaper designer drugs. It was a place you did not go to when I was a kid. My friends and I all knew what happened to people that ended up in skid row, they never came back. So as I was taking this journey with the spider, I was brought back to my childhood and the place I never went to came to me in full imagination and I was a part of the narrative. You get a sense of the pain and I guess in a way, some kind of an understanding of the drug of choice. The one that got me was “Missy Girl” by Lynn Acoose http://www.spiderlanguage.net/missygirl.html
This narrative transported me to the DTES and I could vividly see the images of Aboriginal women making their living on the streets for their next fix. Lynn’s words are descriptive and haunting, she uses words such as medicine, emotional poison, transformation, society and prayers. She is able to reflect words of Aboriginal culture to street life. Life that resembles surviving on the DTES. I feel the heartache in her words and it makes me sad. I am sad because I lost good friends to the DTES over my lifetime. Even though we all knew what happened in skid row, they still went there and they didn’t come back. Lynn’s words describe the journey that one takes….one I will never understand. I miss my friends. They were beautiful, strong & fierce ladies that had my back. I am grateful they were there for me during my first few years in Vancouver. At that time I don’t think I would have survived growing up in East Vancouver, it was pretty rough in those days. So here I am today and I know it’s because of them, this web of art connects me to it, but most of all, it connected them to me. With that I want to say to my friends, my sisters and thank you and I love you. I dedicate this beautiful song to you my friends, my sisters; Peggy, Simone, Heather, Miranda & Sherri.
YouTube Video. Shared. Nov.01.2015 8:25pm
Strong Woman Song by Raven Hart-Bellecourt and Lisa Muswagon.
Raven Hart-Bellecourt describes the songs origins on her YouTube account: Thanks for sharing, there are no words for this song. It is a healing song for women. The song was made in Kingston which is a maximum security prison to help the women regain their strength as a women and reclaim their sense of spirituality and healing. I am happy that you are listening to my songs, they are here for all of you to learn, MIIGWITCH!!!! EKOSI!!!!
Sometimes we can’t choose what memories come back. They sometimes come flooding back into our minds with things, people, and places we thought we’d forgotten…to be caught in a storm out at sea similar to be tangled in a web can be terrifying. But to take what those stories and memories have to teach and have them serve an important role in where life guides you will make you a better human being for valuing the experience of their lessons. It’s to easy to turn the other way in denial and say, “This isn’t happening!” but to face this reality head on needed strength that came from somewhere…where? They’re with you everywhere you go. Thank you for putting a personal element into the work. You speak a truth some people have a very hard time with.
Nicole,
Thank you for sharing this very personal reflection on “Speaking the Language of Spiders.” It is a lovely tribute. It is also an important reminder that the issues Maskegon-Iskwew was addressing two decades ago are just as pertinent and raw today. You could make this piece stronger by providing some direct quotes from Acoose or by reflecting on how Maskegon-Iskwew and Urbanoski chose to represent the poem (the dark, somber feel of the swamp against which it is set). Thanks again for sharing.