In Canada there is an epidemic of Indigenous women being murdered and going missing. It’s a fact. It’s horrifying. It needs to be heard. It needs to stop. Many of the women are from my community, are the mothers, aunties, grandmothers, daughters, nieces, and sisters of friends. It is heartbreaking and frustrating to see the effects of the loss running through families, the not-knowing what happened, the feeling that nobody cares, ‘just another squaw’….
We had enough.
Myself and three other women, banded together to give voice to the missing. To make their presence known that they are not forgotten and that their disappearances matter and they deserve to have an inquiry and investigations. Our goal is to bring light to the situation. Demand justice. Make the presence of the missing known and bring it to the forefront of the public’s and politicians attention. We need change we need it now.
ANGRY BUTTERFLIES 2014
The butterfly is a symbol of transformation, of beauty. We obtained a list of all the missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. It was heartbreaking. The list has over 1200 names. We designed and printed out 1200 angry butterflies. We meticulously wrote the name of each missing or murdered woman and girl with her age on a butterfly and wheat pasted them around the city. We brought them to the light. We made their names known. We honoured them.
The amount of women and girls represented is staggering.
CHALK OUTLINES 2013
Our first installation was chalk outlines and messages over the City Hall landscape demanding justice and an inquiry into the 1000’s of murdered and missing Indigenous Women. It was completed in one night and consisted of 100’s of outlines each one representing an indigenous woman or girl.
Arlea Ashcroft 