It’s a unique melding of experiences and it’s created several atypical pieces of art.
The Abbotsford Senior Secondary School Art Activism class has taken on a heavy topic for the final project for 2023 – the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Canadian Criminal Justice System – and they’ve gone directly to the source for inspiration and a helping hand.
The class has collaborated with the University of British Columbia and Corrections Canada to showcase their work to the community, which is on display at The Reach Gallery Museum until June 25.
The student’s paintings are part of a final project that was made in a collaborative effort with the Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village and the UBC Art Justice Program.
This art installment consists of dual images on each canvas – one painted by individuals from the healing village through the Art Justice Program, and the other by students in response. The side-by-side creations offer a contrast in artistic vision and tell a story of two different perspectives.
Throughout the school year, students learned about important Indigenous topics to understand the complexity of the issue. Statistics released by the Office of the Correctional Investigator from Dec. 2021 showed that almost 50 per cent of all federally-sentenced women are Indigenous and the combined men and women proportion has now reached 32 per cent and appears to be climbing.
The data also revealed that those numbers have jumped in the last 10 years, with Indigenous inmate population increasing by 28.26 per cent, while non-Indigenous has actually decreased 18.1 per cent.
What makes the numbers all the more startling is that Indigenous people make up only about five per cent of the Canadian population. Teacher Trish Roberts said the class began in January and unpacked topics like residential schools, the history of Canada and restorative justice.
She said the final products on display now at The Reach are very impressive.
“They really blew me away,” she said of the art. “I kind of put my trust in the students with this material and seeing the outcomes I think they knocked it out of the park. They just cared so much and maybe some of them had nerves in the beginning – because you don’t want to wreck someone else’s work or they’re worried about how their style will work with another but it worked. And it’s really beautiful to see the directions it all went.”
Roberts said this was her first full year as a teacher and first time leading the Art Activism class at Abbotsford Senior and said she felt it was a special experience.
“During and after the pandemic it was hard to be a teacher but seeing this kind of work is what it’s all about,” she said. “It feels really authentic and we’re putting ourselves out there but these students are the ones that are going to be the driving forces in the future.”
She said the collaboration will continue for next year’s Art Activism class, with the theme of climate justice being adopted.
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