How Indigenous art makes truth visible

“Truth telling is profoundly visual. Art created by Indigenous peoples is not mere expression — it is cognitive, ceremonial, and political," writes Gerald McMaster in Art,Truth and Reconciliation. His book is the first of its kind, featuring Indigenous visual responses to Canada’s residential and day school system: from the drawings of children in the schools themselves, to the art of survivors, and to their descendants, who are carrying the story forward. McMaster says art does the work that words cannot — "bearing witness, restoring dignity, and refusing silence.” Guest in this podcast: Gerald McMaster is a curator, artist, scholar, and author, Art, Truth and Reconciliation. Emma Hassencahl-Perley is an artist, and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, in Fredericton, NB. Adrian Stimson is an artist and residential school survivor and thriver. Mark Atleo is an elder, a fisherman, an artist, and a residential school survivor.