The Estevan Comprehensive School debuted a new mural above the front foyer, created by a Indigenous artist, yesterday. The piece was made by Geanna Dunbar, a Plains Cree artist who works in a number of mediums, including body modification, tattooing in both machine and traditional fashion, spoken word poetry, and more.
Dunbar proudly donated the mural to the school, which she called "Reconcil-onialism". The piece was created in partnership with the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. She shared that the mural was painted during a mini-residency in Estevan back in 2023.
After being introduced by ECS Principal James Jones during the presentation, Dunbar was able to talk about the piece and what it meant for her.
"It means a lot of different things. It means recognizing the past [and] coming to terms with things. It can also represent the healing journey of many Indigenous people, as well as myself. It can represent decolonizing spaces [and] what that can look like. It can represent indigenizing spaces. It can represent where we're at today as a society and what it can look like in the future for us as a society."
After the presentation, a Q&A session was held with the students at the presentation, and a smudging session soon after.
She says that being able to ask difficult questions when an important topic like heritage comes up can be a great learning opportunity for students.
"I think a lot of times people have questions that they're scared to say out loud. They don't want to look uneducated, or ignorant, or embarrass themselves, or be judged. What I've noticed today is that we've been able to create a space where those walls came down, and they realize it's okay that they don't know everything. There's a reason for that."
Dunbar says that ECS students asked a lot of powerful and thought-provoking questions, with her seeing the effort those kids put in to come up and ask those questions as endearing.
"We wanted it to be in a spot where it can be seen by different people from all different places, and just to talk about what it can look like when we work together as a whole for reconciliation."
Between the original mini-residency and the trip to make the presentations this week, Dunbar says she's always happy to stop by a community like Estevan.
"I'm always open to anything. I'd love to come back. It's a great community, and I'll always come back. Any kind of community that invites me out, I'm for it. To be able to create open-ended conversations and I'm able to meet different people and share what I know and learn from them, why not?"
The ECS held two presentations over the day, one in Period 5 and one in Period 6, with two more scheduled for today.