Indigenous artists highlight climate change through art

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY—Indigenous artists Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch recently led a Community Art Build and participated in the opening reception for their Uprising The Power of Mother Earth retrospective in Thunder Bay.

The June 27 art build focused on the screen-printing and painting of hundreds of banners for actions on water protection issues and the June 26 opening reception featured a celebration of the retrospective of Belcourt and Murdoch’s art at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. The retrospective runs from June 22-Nov. 25.

“Most of our visual artwork focuses on the power of Mother Earth, which is why it is called Uprising The Power of Mother Earth,” says Belcourt, a Michif (Métis) visual artist and lead coordinator of the Walking With Our Sisters project. “We’re at a time where we are facing abrupt climate change and the Earth has already warmed significantly. All the scientists and Indigenous leaders and Elders have been pointing to this for a long time saying that we need to change. We need to get off fossil fuels — the warming of the Earth is threatening the existence of all living species.”

The retrospective charts Belcourt’s artistic career, including her early works that showcase the beauty of the natural world, her large sweeping murals and her collaborations with Murdoch, a knowledge holder, storyteller and emerging visual artist from Serpent River.

“It is really important to get the message out there that the tar sands expansion is not okay during abrupt climate change,” Murdoch says. “We, as Anishinabek people, have a responsibility to be stewards to the Earth and to help society along to know that we can change. There are amazing technologies out there that can replace fossil fuel development, so we are trying to use art as a way to get the message out there that change is happening, that Indigenous people do have a voice in this country on how things move forward and that we are rising in unity with everybody.”

Thunder Bay Art Gallery director Sharon Godwin says the opening reception was “a very wonderful night” with more than 250 people in attendance to celebrate the retrospective.

“Christi spoke about her advocacy work around saving water and then Isaac told a wonderful story about the Earth and the need to protect the Earth,” Godwin says, adding that many of the people in attendance spoke with Belcourt and Murdoch during the opening reception. “It was a really great night.”

The art build also featured about 200 participants who helped create a variety of banners along with Belcourt and Murdoch.

“People of all ages have come by and they are painting great big banners and they are screen-printing hundreds of banners,” Belcourt says. “These banners will be sent to front-line actions against pipelines to oppose Enbridge’s Line 3 and Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline. It is important to stand up for the Earth and to stand up for the waters for all of the babies to come. We have to make a change, we have to get off fossil fuels. We can no longer fool ourselves as the human species thinking that we are not impacting this Earth in a negative way.”

Michel Dumont, an art build participant whose mother’s family is from the Red Rock Indian Band, says it is important to keep water safe.

“I’ve been a fan of Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch for about three or four years,” Dumont says. “We have to keep water safe. We know about that in our communities, that water is life, it is important.”