Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Honoured with REDress Project
By Kelly Anne Smith
NORTH BAY—The art installation, the REDress Project held powerful ambiance on December 6 at Nipissing University as part of the National Day of Remembrance and Action for Violence Against Women. On this day in 1989, 14 students were murdered and 10 students injured for being women at École Polytechnique de Montréal.
The REDress Project has become distinctive in Canada. Empty red dresses hang inside and outside buildings. They are left solo, hauntingly swinging from a post or tree. The installation is a response to the 1181Murdered and Mission Indigenous Women and Children.
Nipissing University’s foyer had red dresses installed in the window panels while many people held candles taking part in a vigil of remembrance. Elders led prayers and ceremony.
Local leaders working to stop violence against women later took part in a panel discussion on racialized and gender-based violence and how to take action to stop it.
REDress Project artist Jaime Black was pleased with the successful turnout.
“It is amazing to see the power of this work to bring people together,” stated Black. “It’s a testament to artwork being able to create community and create a positive space around this traumatic reality that we are dealing with.”
“What we are looking at here is extremely beautiful,” Black points to the many people in the foyer. “We are coming together to feel good and to act together to end this.”
Nipissing University and Canadore staff and students, North Bay’s Mayor along with the Chief of the North Bay Police Service, social agency representatives, and many members of the public and Indigenous Elders are in attendance.
The Métis artist has been showing The REDress Project across Canada since 2010. She often works with universities who greet the REDress with a strong response.
“The universities are wonderful for leading programming around the installation,” noted Black. “I ask that communities be invited so it becomes a community space.”
Looking back on the motivation for the REDress Project, Black wonders about reading The Book of Jessica by Linda Grittiths and Maria Campbell at the age of 17. She feels it left a profound impression.
“It’s about the experience of Indigenous women coming into an urban setting and being at a disadvantage with struggles to go through,” recalled Black. “It is also about using ceremony to reconnect with others and community. It is about coming out of that trauma and being reborn.”
Black ponders her relationship with the book again after seeing the cover art.
“I discovered that the cover of that novel is an empty red dress,” added Black. “I didn’t make the connection until recently.”
The Métis artist says The REDress Project has become its own force.
“It coalesces. Everybody wants to know why the dresses are there so it is a wonderful way to open the door to getting a conversation started,” stated Black. “The dresses have a visceral impact on people. People become curious allowing them to hear the stories.”
The REDress Project moves on to Ottawa next to be hosted by the Native Women’s Association.
The website of the upcoming The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has just been released.