Anishinabe

The Ojibwe view all of life as the “Spiritual World” and have been speaking this simple truth, through out all of their plights, to any one who would and will listen and hear the truth of their words, not as words, but as a reality. They ask, “Where did you come from if not from your Mother (earth)?” And yet rarely are they heard. Time and again, they have been moved from place to place, with the claims of papers (treaties) stating that land can be owned and that they must move on. Meanwhile, they watch as those papers (treaties) eat up and destroy the only home that all have been gifted to live on from the Mother … earth.

This research explores the role of Anishinabe photographs as distinct material things, in Anishinabeg memory production. Through the materialization and transformation of six (6) photographs of her ancestors, the author as an Anishinabekwe (Ojibwe) artist/researcher, draws upon performative and embodied aspects of Anishinabeg ways of knowing, emphasizing the agency of the materials worked with in the process of meaning-making. Research findings stress the importance of conceptualizing Anishinabeg memory as a visceral, relational, intuitive, creative, and sensorial experience to strengthening relationships to the ancestral past, now and into the future. By locating Anishinabeg photographs as distinct Indigenous things—things that can be worked with as opposed to simply " read " — the author transcends ontological and methodological limitations often associated with photographs in order to trace or " stitch " through the different relationships between actuants made visible, sensible and knowable through a material and phenomenological oriented approach that is informed her identity and cultural teachings.

The cultural practice of Algonquin birch bark basket making is a continuing distinct method of connecting to their ancestors. In the Algonquin reserve of Kitigan Zibi, birch bark baskets are a way of both honouring their ancestors and passing down traditional valuable teachings of Anishnabe culture. The once practiced assimilation policies in Section 3 of An Act Further to Amend The Indian Act, 1880, to ban First Nation ceremonial practices within Canada, is one example that demonstrates unsettling historical relationships between Indigenous people and the Canadian Government. As a result of the Canadian Government assimilation policies of banning ceremonial practices, the disconnection between Indigenous people and Canadians are apparent through public spaces such as the Canadian Museum of History in the Canada Hall. The presence of Algonquin birch bark baskets in the Canada Hall would reflect a potential positive relationship between Canadians and the First People of this land.