Meryl McMaster
I Listened As The World Became Silent, 2022
Impression à pigments de qualité archive montée sur panneau en aluminium / Pigment print on archival paper mounted to Aluminium Composite Panel
Épuisée / Sold out
Épuisée / Sold out
40 x 60 "
101.6 x 152.4 cm
101.6 x 152.4 cm
Ed. 5 + 2 AP
Séries: Bloodline - Stories of my Grandmothers, nôhkominak âcimowina
© Meryl McMaster
[English follows] *J'ai été très frappé par l'histoire de la pendaison collective qui a eu lieu en 1885 à Fort Battleford, dans la province du Saskatchewan', explique M. McMaster pour...
[English follows] *J'ai été très frappé par l'histoire de la pendaison collective qui a eu lieu en 1885 à Fort Battleford, dans la province du Saskatchewan", explique M. McMaster pour justifier la source de cette image troublante. "Il s'agit de l'exécution de huit guerriers cris des plaines. À l'époque, les gens mouraient de faim et ces hommes s'étaient rebellés contre le pouvoir colonial au cours de ce que l'on a appelé la rébellion du Nord-Ouest. Ils ont été pendus pour avoir tué des colons. Il s'agissait d'une pendaison publique et les habitants de la ville étaient venus en témoigner. Mais ce qui m'a vraiment troublé, c'est que les enfants de l'école industrielle de Battleford ont également assisté à la pendaison. Mon arrière-arrière-grand-mère Tilly devait avoir environ quatorze ou quinze ans à l'époque, et il est fort probable qu'elle ait été amenée à cet événement". McMaster se présente comme la protectrice de ces enfants, représentée par les petits crayons attachés sur le devant de son costume et qui pendent le long de son corps. "Leurs âmes, leurs êtres."
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*I was really struck by the story of the mass hanging in 1885 at Fort Battleford, Saskatchewan," says McMaster, explaining the source for this disturbing image. "It was an execution of eight Plains Cree warriors. During those days people were starving, and these men were rebelling against colonial rule during the so-called NorthWest Rebellion. They were hanged for killing settler men. It was a public hanging and the townspeople would have come out to witness. But the thing that really disturbed me was that the children from the Battleford Industrial School were brought to witness it too. My great-great-grandmother Tilly would have been around fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, and she most likely would have been brought to this event." McMaster presents herself as a protector of these children, represented by the little pencils tied onto the front of her costume and hanging down her side.The butterflies represent the spirits of the men," she says. "Their souls, their beings."
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*I was really struck by the story of the mass hanging in 1885 at Fort Battleford, Saskatchewan," says McMaster, explaining the source for this disturbing image. "It was an execution of eight Plains Cree warriors. During those days people were starving, and these men were rebelling against colonial rule during the so-called NorthWest Rebellion. They were hanged for killing settler men. It was a public hanging and the townspeople would have come out to witness. But the thing that really disturbed me was that the children from the Battleford Industrial School were brought to witness it too. My great-great-grandmother Tilly would have been around fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, and she most likely would have been brought to this event." McMaster presents herself as a protector of these children, represented by the little pencils tied onto the front of her costume and hanging down her side.The butterflies represent the spirits of the men," she says. "Their souls, their beings."