Circling the Truth

When we arrived at the McLaren Art Gallery in Barrie and headed up the stairs we could hear the voice of an older woman speaking in another language over the sound system.  Reaching the open door of the gallery we saw a circle of chairs large enough to fill the big gallery space and most of them were occupied by people.  As we listened to the speaker I guessed that she was speaking Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe people. The soft sounds floated around me as I noticed the paintings I had come to see on the walls of the rectangular gallery.  This was the opening of Call to Action #83 in Barrie, ON.  I had been eagerly waiting to see this exhibition since I first heard about it over a year ago.

I wrote about this reconciliation project in an earlier blog post.  Basically, 8 Indigenous and 8 non-Indigenous Simcoe County artists came together in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #83 which called on the Canadian Council for the Arts to direct funds to artists who are working on reconciliation projects.  So far this collective of artists haven`t received this funding but they went aheads with the project anyway.  

The first non-Indigenous artist Xavier Fernandes created a woodcut that spoke of reconciliation.  Then he took this piece to the next artist Marilyn George who is Indigenous.  Back and forth the process went.  Each artist only saw the piece before him or her.  Once all the pieces were finished, the artists brought them together and shared their processes with one another.  Since that time, they have presented the work at schools and in galleries.

The artists of Call to Action #83

Here in Barrie, after the four elders who supported the project and the mayor of Barrie spoke, each artist talked about their piece or their process.  The people who had gathered, moved around during the presentations so that they could see each piece.  Some of the Indigenous artists sang and drummed.  The audience, no longer an audience but now participants, were invited to dance in a round dance inside the circle of the chairs.  Holding hands, we stepped with the drum beat moving in a circle, swinging our arms in circles as well.

The artists spoke of their own histories, their own stories and how this process had changed them.  Indigenous artists talked about how residential schools had affected their families and themselves.  One artist had been a child in the seventies scoop.  They spoke about recovering traditional knowledge and languages.   

Non-Indigenous artists spoke of the countries they or their families had come from to settle in Canada.  They spoke of how they had unknowingly been part of a system that took land and children away from Indigenous people who had been here for thousands of years.  And we all listened and danced and listened some more and danced again. 

The whole time, people moved in and out of the circle in a dynamic process that we all participated in.  This was not a formal talk with rows of chairs and one person speaking at the front where you saw one face and the backs of people`s heads.  In the circle, we all faced each other and the artists faced us and spoke their truth from their hearts. 

Reconciliation by Nathalie Bertin 

The third last painting entitled Reconciliation was of a beautiful strawberry, with gold seeds on a gold background by Nathalie Bertin.  The collective had square pins made from this Heart Berry painting that you could buy afterwards and I bought a few to share with people.  The artists had shared with us from their hearts and we had received that gift into ours.

I met people I knew and danced with people I have now met.  I spoke to Xavier, the first artist who I had met at the beginning of the process last year.  He told me that every time he speaks at one of these events, he says something different because after listening to the other artists, he gains new insights.  The process of going around the circle and listening as each speaks changes those who take part in it.  The act of speaking truth and listening to the truth of another without interrupting is healing and transformative.  

According to the catalogue, this project lays out a roadmap for 'awi-niigaani-mino-wiiji-inawendiwin' -- Going Forward Together in Harmony.  I cannot  imagine how anyone who was in that room with an open heart could have come out the same person.  The stories that were told are heartbreaking, the wounds intergenerational and the solutions seem come too slowly.  Non-Indigenous people are learning of and reconciling with the history that they are learning to accept as the truth.  But as we listen to the truth, and speak our truth with open minds and open hearts, and we do it together I believe we are moving forward together.  We don`t have a map and much has been lost but as one artist said, “We have to get this done.”

What Does Diversity Sound Like?

“Where else but in Canada today, at this moment, can artists from different traditions come together to create a new body of work or, even, a new tradition?” asks the Royal Conservatory of Music on their website.  Their answer is the New Canadian Global Music Orchestra which the Conservatory has created by bringing together professional musicians from around the world who now live in Canada.

The orchestra includes:

Padideh Ahrarnejad (Iran) on tar
Sasha Boychouk (Ukraine) on woodwinds and ethnic Ukrainian flutes
Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk (Canada – Métis) on violin, viola, jaw harp, spoons, and vocals
Luis Deniz (Cuba) on saxophone
Anwar Khurshid (Pakistan) on sitar, flute, esraj, tabla, vocals, and harmonium
Lasso (Salif Sanou) (Burkina Faso) on Fulani flute, kambélé n’goni, tamanin (talking drum), balafon, djembe, doum-doum, and vocals
Paco Luviano (Mexico) on bass
Aline Morales (Brazil) on Brazilian percussion and vocals
Demetrios Petsalakis (Greece) on oud, guitar, lyra, bouzouki, riq, and Greek baglama
Matias Recharte (Peru) on drums, percussion, cajón, conga, and timbales
Dorjee Tsering (Tibet) on dranyen, flute, piwang, yang chin (dulcimer), and traditional Tibetan vocals
Dora Wang (China) on bamboo flute, flute, hulusi, xiao, panpipe, and ocarina
David Buchbinder (United States), Artistic Director

This orchestra is an attempt to create an orchestra  that sounds like Canada for the 150^th anniversary.  Although there are musicians in Canada from all over the world, they usually stay within their own musical traditions and cross-cultural collaborations are rare.  The executive director Mirvan Mehta wants to create the sound of these cultures coming together and expects a "distinctive audience experience."  After weeks of intensive co-creating and working with communities, their inaugural concert will be next week at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

So what does diversity sound like?  You can hear it on the 5 minute video on this webpage.  Just scroll down until you see the video box.  It explains and shows some of the process that the orchestra went through to create a new kind of music.  It looks like a lot of fun.  It is the sound of people creating a brand new sound from a process of collaboration.  Maybe this is the some of the music of our new story.

Looking Into the Faces of Unsung S/heroes

On the walls of the second floor of Daniels Spectrum in the Regent Park neighbourhood of Toronto are the beautiful faces of African grandmothers who have lost their children to AIDS and are now raising their grandchildren.  As part of the Scotiabank CONTACT  Photography Festival, the Stephen Lewis Foundation  (SLF) is hosting this exhibit called Unsung S/heroes.  Self-taught photographer Alexis MacDonald who is also SLF’s Director of External Relations has captured candid moments and portraits in natural light of some of these amazing women.  

One of the photographs from the exhibit

As I walked the halls I could see a whole range of emotions on their faces.  On the walls painted blue you could see the shared grief of grandchild and grandmother, sadness, fear, fatigue and worry for the future.  On the yellow walls were faces that expressed joy, love, fierce determination, the power of community, courage, tenderness, resilience and strength.  In between the pictures were quotes from some of the women:

“Tell me, who has to be stronger on the planet than an African woman?  So if you make it to be an older African woman, you must be the strongest of all.”

Mama Zodwa Ndlovu, South Africa

“All my children died.  Now when I go out to the field to work, I go with a baby on the back, a baby in one arm and a hoe in the other arm.”

Grandmother Evelyn of Reach One Touch One, Uganda

The Stephen Lewis Foundation builds relationships of mutual respect and trust with African community-based organizations.  SLF provides direct support to the local grassroots groups that have the expertise to work with these grandmothers, their grandchildren, people living with HIV/AIDS  and women.  Since 2003, SLF has partnered with over 300 grassroots African groups with more than 1100 initiatives in the 15 African countries that have been the most affected by the AIDS pandemic.

African grandmothers have stepped up to become parents to their orphaned grandchildren, helping them through the grief of losing their parents and sending them to school while harvesting crops, creating local savings and loan groups, educating others about HIV prevention and treatment, as well as coming up with innovative ways of generating income.  They have formed support groups and are also lobbying governments for better social services due to their added responsibilities.

In 2006, SLF began the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign that linked Canadian grandmothers to African grandmothers.  These Canadian groups are still in existence over ten years later.  Their three goals are to raise funds to meet the needs of African grandmothers and the children they care for; to raise awareness about the expertise and leadership of Africa`s grandmothers; and to build solidarity between grandmothers to sustain the changes that need to take place to turn the tide of AIDS in Africa.

In October of 2015, 500 African grandmothers from every region of Uganda met at the First National Grandmothers Gathering.  “Together they expressed their grief, outrage, resilience and hope for the future. (Grassroots, Fall 2015, SLF)  They formulated their demands and wrote a powerful call to action: the  Ugandan Grandmothers` Statement.

Here is a quote from their Statement:

We have done our part.  We care for the sick, we work the land, we hold our collective memory, and fueled by our love we raise the next generations, provide food, schooling, homes and security.

For far too long we have not been counted, we have not been valued, we have been made invisible.  It is time for our contributions to be recognized and our rights to be protected.

The power of these grandmothers comes through in the photo exhibit. Alexis MacDonald has taken them from invisible to visible.  One picture of a grandmother spinning cotton is accompanied by this quote from the spinner:

“I am a cotton spinner.  When I spin my thread I sing my hymns of sadness.  I sing the loss of my sons and daughters into my cotton.  I sing my sorrows into the balls of thread as they spin onto the spool.  I sing and spin away my tragedies.  This is how I go on.”

Grandmother Nigatea, Ethopia, Developing the Family Together

You can learn more about Grandmothers to Grandmothers groups on the SLF website.  The local group where I live is called Grandmothers and Grandothers so that anyone can feel welcome to join.  So far, according to the SLF website, Canadians have raised $24 million for the Grandmothers Campaign.  If you want to see Canadian grandmothers doing flash mobs to raise awareness across Canada last year just click here.  Older women making themselves and their African friends visible.  We are surrounded by Unsung S/heroes and their allies and you just might just be inspired to join them!

Spring Song

Trillium

On an early spring evening we decided to go for a walk in my favourite forest, Grant's Woods.  The forest floor was covered in trilliums.  Only a few had their blossoms opened.  Most had their blossoms closed tightly by the three green sepals.  Only a hint of white gave a clue about what was about to be revealed.  I wondered if they would all open at once, when it got warm enough.

May apple emerges in forest

May apples emerged from the earth like closed umbrellas that opened once they achieved the height needed for the large leaf to open up.  Blue cohosh had already shot up to several feet and were now opening their tiny yellow flowers.  Wild leeks and wild garlic grew in abundant patches throughout the forest. 

Wild ginger

Wild ginger had burst through the soil and opened it’s heart shaped leaves as well.  It was like welcoming old friends back again as we pointed them out to each other. We greeted them as if at a party recognizing people we knew.

Last year's dead brown leaves of the mixed forest of maples, red oaks, beeches, ash, white pine, cedar, and birch where moved aside and covered up by the new green emerging life.  After a long winter, the sight of these rejuvenated me.  For supper we had had wild leeks and fiddleheads and I imagined their new spring energy coursing through me.

Marsh Marigold

In the marshy areas, marsh marigold flowers were vibrant yellow setting off their rich green foliage magnificently.  They made me feel as if the marsh was smiling brightly at us.  Green cattail leaves were shooting straight out of the water as if trying to reach the sky as other water plants emerged from the depths.  But it was getting dark now.

As we made our way to the parking lot, the sun began to set with beautiful oranges and reds streaking across the sky.  The still leafless trees were intricately silhouetted by the coloured light behind them and we stopped to breath it all it.

Sunset over Georgian Bay

We drove west on our way home, into the full spectacle of the changing sunset.  Large pools of water in the fields mirrored the light show and set the dark fields on fire.  We drove without speaking, just taking in all the glory of each moment.  When we arrived home, we could see the sun still setting over Georgian Bay so we drove past the driveway and down to the lake to watch the end of the show over the water.  Now  it was pale oranges and grey clouds, dark water splashing in waves onto the beach.  We watched nighttime arrive peaceful and calm and then headed back up the hill to the house and the warmth of the fire.

Our eyes and hearts were full and we were grateful for the beauty that had greeted and surrounded us from the earth, the water, the fire in the sky and All Our Relations.

Bridging the Divide

I recently took a short 45 minute on-line course offered by edX.  EdX offers free MOOC's or Massive Open Online Courses.  It was started by a professor at MIT and now hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world have taken all kinds of university courses online.  The founder describes this as the "democratization of education."   The course that I took was called Communication Skills for Bridging Divides which you can check out here or at edx.org.

This course attracted me because of the polarization that I am seeing in Europe and North America in the last year.  If you watch the news, you will see countless examples of politicians representing worldviews that seem to be light years apart.  So I thought I would learn some skills for bridging these divides.

The course designers explained the difference between debate, discussion and dialogue.  According to them, debate is set up to have a winner and a loser and discussion seeks to come up with a solution or a decision.  But the purpose of dialogue is to understand the other person’s point of view more fully.  Rather than seeking closure, dialogue uncovers more options. 

It seems to me that we float between these three all the time even in the same conversation.  So often we like to score points or try to convince the other person of our ideas while looking for the closure of agreement.  The idea that you would only be seeking to understand the other person’s point of view and not pushing your own agenda sounded like something I don’t hear very often.  And so I decided to learn more about that.

Whereas, discussions assume that all parties have the same beliefs or worldview, a dialogue is designed to bridge the divide between different worldviews or beliefs.  Dialogue has to be collaborative to work as it involves trust.  However one person can model this and begin a dialogue.  The course listed five ways to facilitate this.

First, you can consciously choose to believe that the other person has good intentions.  This reduces the likelihood of being judgmental and helps one to focus on understanding the other person’s viewpoint.  The second strategy is to ask clarifying questions or paraphrase what you think you heard to make sure that that is correct.  Phrases such as “Can you say more about that," or saying that "this is an unfamiliar way of looking at this for me. Can you give me more details," are ways to gain more understanding.  

The third strategy is to listen humbly, putting aside your own viewpoints and showing that you are listening.  The fourth strategy is to pause when the person is finished talking instead of jumping right back in with your own comments.  This can be a real change for those of us who are used to a fast paced, fast talking, competitive environment.  And lastly, look for common ground, something that you both agree on to build bridges.  If that is impossible, you could always simply thank the person for sharing their point of view.

I got an opportunity to practice some of these strategies.  I was talking to someone about a best selling book that I had recently read.  Most people I talked to didn't like the book and neither did I.  But this person actually liked the book.  I told her that she was the first person that I had met who did like it and asked her to tell me what she liked about it.  As I listened to her point of view, I gained more insight.  I realized that there were people who thought the same way about life as the author and that they would enjoy the book.  We could agree that we simply liked different things.  And we did both agree that we didn't think it should have won the prize that it did.

Sound bites, twitter, and texts make it easy to be get your message out but they are not so good for understanding points of view, listening to subtleties and finding ways to understand complex issues.  It may be that we need to learn and re-learn how to communicate so that we can collaborate, cooperate and take care of each other.

I ran into a story in the newspaper that seemed to be a good example of this idea. Sam Fiorella's son Lucas lived silently with depression for about five years.  It wasn't until he died by suicide that Sam learned how many others his son had reached out to, while he himself was suffering.  At Lucas' funeral many young people told his family how Lucas reaching out to them had helped them to not take their lives. 

This inspired Sam to found The Friendship Bench.  This non-profit organization provides space on campuses where students can talk about mental health issues.  The group installs bright yellow benches in high schools, colleges and universities across Canada to encourage students to talk to each other.  During Mental Health Week this year (May 1 – 7, 2017) they will install benches in five new schools.  The benches are a physical place to sit and talk as well as a reminder to take the time to talk about mental health.  

On the website yellowisforhello.org there are short videos with mental health messages and tips.  Sam suggests taking the media out of social media and encourages young people to get out with others.

Perhaps all our technological progress has taken us too far away from each other.  But humans are resilient and adaptable and we can always learn new things to make our lives better.  You may want to experiment yourself with dialogue and see what stories and new ideas emerge.