‘The border crossed us’: Parallax(e) exhibit unveils the human cost of colonial boundary-making

By Aaron Walker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com A new exhibition at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, B.C. is confronting one of the enduring legacies of colonial mapping in Canada: The drawing of the 49th parallel and its impact on First Nations communities whose territories, cultures, and ceremonial travel long pre-date any border with the United States. Running until May 30, 2026, Parallax(e): Perspectives on the Canada–U.S. Border presents historical materials with new works by Indigenous artists that reveals what official maps omitted. “The border created divisions and conflicts between our communities and within our family,” said Skwxwu7mesh storyteller and artist T’uy’t’tanat–Cease Wyss, one of the exhibit’s Indigenous curatorial collaborators. “The border crossed us with no … acknowledgment of our existence with the lands and waters that were divided….

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