On Sunday, May 25th, the Morden Park became a space for remembrance and awareness as the Pembina Valley REDress project set up their installation to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Based on Métis artist Jaimie Black’s own REDress installation work, the Pembina Valley REDress project has set up installations of their own within the area this year. “It’s really a way to get people engaged in and bring awareness to the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls both in our area and Manitoba” says organizer Courtney Yeo-Thiessen. With May 5th being Red Dress Day, the organization has set up installations in Carman, Altona, Morris, and Morden so far this month.
Including stories and voices of residential schools
Within the REDress installation, there is also an installation dedicated to the victims of residential schools, featuring written memorials, children’s shoes, and orange shirts. Yeo-Thiessen notes that “with residential schools, that has a big impact on why missing and murdered women and girls is even a problem, with generational trauma.”
Looking to the next generation
The installation also includes artwork made by local schools, with organizers Yeo-Thiessen and Denise Thiessen reaching out to classrooms for their contributions. “They’re learning about this in the classroom...when they see their pieces displayed in our installation, it connects them to it in a different way,” Yeo-Thiessen said. One such classroom is Trish Meekis’ class from École Morden Middle School, whose works were displayed throughout the park.
“They’re learning about this in the classroom, and of course they are...the next generation that is hopefully going to help bring this to an end”
A new lens on the past
An interactive part of this installation is a blanket exercise, a storytelling piece that invites participants to experience the history of North America, or Turtle Island, through the lens of the Indigenous peoples. “...as the story is told, as we know it, the blankets will change as they represent the land and as the land has changed over time,” Yeo-Thiessen said. “It’s really an impactful way to visually see just what Indigenous peoples in Canada have had to endure throughout, even before, colonization to now.”
'We want our daughters, sisters, mothers recognized'
Six of the dresses on display in the park represented six missing or murdered women and girls who either are from or have family based in the Pembina Valley. Along with this display, the families of these women and girls have included their stories as a way to remember them. “Families...have reached out to us to say we want our daughters, sisters, mothers recognized,” Yeo-Thiessen said. “Sometimes people have a tendency to think that we live in really safe communities, which we do, but there is still things that happen and people that do go missing and are murdered in our communities, and so that is a representation of them and remembering them.”
The Pembina Valley REDress project will be in Winkler on June 1st from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, with a blanket exercise at 1:00 pm. For more information, visit their Facebook page.