The Toronto Council Fire hosted the ninth annual Indigenous Legacy Gathering this week, a three-day event commemorating the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30 at Nathan Phillips Square.
The gathering brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to remember victims and survivors of the residential school system and celebrate the cultures of Canada’s First Nations.
The event provided opportunities for communal healing, storytelling, cultural exchange and art installations, including the Resilience Mosaics Project.
Naomi Smith, an Indigenous artisan and educator from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation in Neyaashiinigmiing, displayed her four-season installation at Toronto City Hall.
Smith uses her art to share teachings about Indigenous culture. She was encouraged to pursue her creative interests from a young age.
“When I was four or five years old, I really loved doing art, and my dad, who was a math and English teacher, recognized right away that I had this passion for art even when I was a little girl,” Smith said.
However, Smith’s upbringing was more complex than her early introduction to art might suggest.
“When I was little, I was taken away from my birth mother and adopted into a non-Indigenous family,” Smith said. “I was raised by a non-Indigenous family that always wanted me to remember that I was Indigenous but, of course, didn’t have any clue about what that meant.”
Smith said her adoptive father helped her pursue her early interest in beadwork, the art form she later used in her mosaic designs.
“When I was seven years old, I expressed an interest in doing beadwork, and my dad went out and got me some beads and a little bead loom and said, ‘You’ve got to take it from here and figure it out,’” Smith said. “So, I took the loom and I figured out how to string it and get those beads on there.”
Smith said she sees her father’s support as a way of helping her remain connected to her roots.
“I’m so grateful that he recognized that, and that he never discouraged me from doing art. He actually fostered that,” she said.
Despite being adopted into a supportive home, Smith recognized the effects displacement has had on her life.
“I had a lot of struggles as an adoptee growing up and being disconnected and disenfranchised from my community,” she said.
Art and beadwork created a path back to Smith’s community, from which she had been separated. Despite her experiences, she said she is grateful to have reconnected with her roots.
“I made it back to my community and to my birth mother just before she passed away, and I reconnected, and it was a life-changing experience," she said. "If it hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t be the well-rounded person that I am now. At least that’s how I see it.”
Now, Smith uses her art to pass on Indigenous stories and cultural teachings, as demonstrated in her series on display.
“We don’t have a word for art in our Ojibwe language. Art and life are interconnected,” Smith said. “There’s no separation between those two.”
In keeping with that theme, Smith presented seasonal pieces featuring sacred Indigenous symbols.
Aimed at creating awareness of Indigenous peoples and colonization survivors, the four pieces were created using beads and polka dots on a circular base. Smith shared the significance of each design.
“Spring is represented by the maple tree because in the springtime the sap runs, we collect the sap and, of course, that sustained us at that very beginning of the growing season, and so we honor that maple tree for its very early gift of the maple sap,” Smith said. “The tree is represented with a braided trunk because braids mean mind, body and spirit.”
For summer, Smith used a berry with special cultural significance.
“Summer features the heart berry, also known as a strawberry, one of the first fruits that nourishes us after the long winter,” Smith said. “I think the heart is the center of who we are and the center of life.”
Fall is symbolized by the “Three Sisters,” a traditional Indigenous agricultural system involving corn, beans and squash. Smith explained the significance of the vegetables representing the transition into the season.
“The corn, bean and squash; they are the three gifts, three plants that come later in the summer, and these are the plants we’ve always had,” she said.
The artwork represents the interconnectedness of nature, Smith said, pointing to the "Three Sisters" as an example.
“They coexist and thrive with each other, yet they’re entirely different plants,” she said.
