{"id":18010,"date":"2017-08-09T17:18:24","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T21:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18010"},"modified":"2017-08-16T17:58:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T21:58:46","slug":"call-to-action-offers-a-human-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/call-to-action-offers-a-human-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Call to Action offers \u201ca human experience\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amid the heated rhetoric and unprecedented antics of the most recent American presidential campaign, Canadian artist Joanna McEwen found a singular human moment.
\nWatching live coverage of an event in Flint, Michigan, at which Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were appearing side by side, she was immediately moved when a local African American gospel choir got up and sang the most beautiful version of The Star Spangled Banner she had ever heard.
\n\u201cIt made me weak,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought, \u2018Holy God, they sang that song every much as American as anybody else.\u201d
\nShe drew parallels between the racial strife which has punctuated so much of American history with the similar treatment of Canada\u2019s Indigenous peoples north of the border and it was a watershed moment for her.
\n\u201cWhat they do and how they see the world is so beautiful and it makes us so rich as a country to have that,\u201d says Ms. McEwen of the Indigenous voice, a voice with which she has come up close and personal over the last couple of years.
\nJoanna McEwen is the lead non-indigenous artist of Call to Action #83, a travelling art exhibition bringing together the works of 16 artists \u2013 eight Indigenous and non-Indigenous \u2013 for a very important conversation, through art, on Truth and Reconciliation.
\nThe exhibition is a response of artists from York Region, Simcoe Region, Durham Region and beyond to Call to Action #83 contained in the final report from Canada\u2019s Truth & Reconciliation Commission for \u201ca strategy for indigenous and non-indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects and produce works that contribute to the reconciliation process.\u201d
\nThe collective started off with one piece of art created by an Indigenous artist which was subsequently passed to a non-Indigenous artist who used the first work as inspiration for the second. This second piece was then handed over to an Indigenous artist who repeated the same process down the line. The caveat: each artist was only able to see the work immediately preceding theirs.
\n\u201cI was delighted to say yes,\u201d says Ms. McEwen when asked to participate as the exhibition\u2019s lead non-Indigenous artist. \u201cWhen someone creates something and they pass it on to another person, we call it \u2018wildfire\u2019 and the next person has to take elements or an element of what they have received. I was excited about the prospect and looking forward to seeing the work that would be passed on to me.\u201d
\nWhat she ultimately received was a very dark-in-tone work from Mercedes Sandy, a younger Indigenous woman. Ms. McEwen describes the piece as \u201ca very dark piece, angry without much hope\u201d and informed by the Residential School experience as well as the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
\n\u201cI thought, there has to be some light at the end of this tunnel,\u201d she says, adding she enjoyed the inter-generational dialogue that also took place between herself and Ms. Sandy. \u201cWe can\u2019t on like this forever and what I did with my work was try and indicate a turnaround.\u201d
\nHer finished piece features wild strawberries, a hopeful symbol of the first fruits of spring.
\n\u201cThe artists who came together were very amenable and determined to be a positive experience, provide in-depth learning, and [facilitate] coming to grips with each other,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe non-Indigenous artist is probably taken aback and surprised by the flow. Follow the threads from one to the other. Threads can be elements of design, but there are content threads going through.
\n\u201cI saw this as a human experience, completely equal in every way. I hope the message is, \u2018We can get over this, we will get over this.\u2019 It is totally unique and I think it is very uplifting and hopeful.\u201d
\nCall To Action, which has spent much of the last year touring galleries all around Ontario lands at the Aurora Cultural Centre this Saturday, August 12. It features the works of Peter Adams, Nathalie Bertin, Jennie Clark, Xavier Fernandes, Marilyn George (Nahtwekakatusake, Lakota: Holy Star Woman), Robert Henry (Sagajiwegiiwegiizhik, Coming from the Sun), Clayton Samuel King (Waab Shki Makoons, New Little White Bear), Nancy King (Ogimaakwebnes, Chief Lady Bird), Jeannette Luchese, Christina Luck, Joanna McEwen, Mary Louise Meiers, Jon Oelrichs, Mercedes Sandy, Paul Shilling (Dazaunggee), and Paul Whittman (Negik, Star Otter)
\nA formal opening reception will be held Saturday, August 19, from 1 \u2013 4 p.m. in conjunction with Doors Open Aurora. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the heated rhetoric and unprecedented antics of the most recent American presidential campaign, Canadian artist Joanna McEwen found a singular human moment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Gu","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 18:18:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}