Sacred Bundles exhibit honours the grief of residential schools while celebrating the future

By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com When she heard in 2021 that the findings of an investigation indicated the presence of 215 potential burials at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, B.C., Adele Arseneau decided to move into action. The Métis multidisciplinary artist created 141 miniature cradleboards that would represent a school named in the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The result of that work titled wîskwêpitâkan: sacred bundle is now on display in Toronto at the Tangled Art Gallery. It runs until July 17. Arseneau, who lives in Duncan, B.C., first displayed the collection at Vancouver’s Pendulum Gallery in 2023. Arseneau first started working on the cradleboards with Xwalacktun (Rick Harry), who is a Squamish master carver….

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