Pikwakanagan, ON
Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation
Age 20
Constricted by plastic, bound by red tape, breaking free from the grasp of modern ideals and media diffusion.
This piece was provoked by a range of current aboriginal issues.
Sometimes I feel I am constricted by synthetic aspects to modern life, drifting further and further from mother earth, and my own culture. This is represented through the semitransparent plastic ensemble. Feelings of cultural suffocation.
Working gloves, bound by red tape. This represents struggles with the government, and my lifelong desire to break free from this constant battle. The working gloves represent my inability to succeed in a meaningful way due to the boundaries and reputation that’s been stamped across my forehead. It represents absolute betrayal. It represents how powerless and helpless I used to feel.
Stars are visible within the day lit sky, as a reminder that the Great Spirit is closer to us than we can ever imagine, and that our lives are but a mere percentage of ultimate existence.
A still river, representing my struggle to keep up in today’s rapidly paced world.
The solar panel represents a future I can believe in. We have the power to save ourselves from the digital age, if we want to.