Day Two (Toronto)

On March 9th 2011 Open Spaces Gallery opened its second public performance of making the sharing and practice of First Nation culture visible. On this Wednesday I was joined by a fellow OCAD student Morena, seen painting and representing the the baby stroller which served as the first Open Spaces Gallery territorial marker. We painted the broken baby stroller with the emblem of the Iroquois Confederacy Flag which represents the peace and power of the Six Nations of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora.

I felt that using a physical territorial marker would help in the identification of the Open Spaces Gallery territory and would signify this project being a safe approach to provide a space for the visible sharing of First Nation culture.

I am really happy that I was able to receive help from Morena making the process of raising awareness and creating the territorial flag much simpler. In leading by example, Morena has encouraged other members of the OCAD student society and faculty to engage within the mandate of the Open Spaces Gallery.

Next Wednesday, March 16th, the Open Spaces Gallery will be providing space for 5 OCAD students and faculty to share in a traditional First Nation pow-wow. Plans are to adorn the chosen space with turf and as a group create and share in craftwork and repolishing the territorial marker, as the paint on the baby stroller is messy after dealing with the rain and snow from last week.

For more information about the Open Spaces Gallery call for submissions, please refer to the Call for Submissions posting on this blog.