A steak night to raise funds for hosting an art installation honouring murdered and missing indigenous women has been sold out so a decision has been made to hold a second one.
Tickets are now being offered for a second steak night at Blend restaurant to be held Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from the Allen Sapp Gallery at 306-445-1760.
Funds raised will go toward hosting Walking With Our Sisters, an art installation honouring the lives of missing and murdered indigenous women of Canada and the United States. It is due to be exhibited at North Battleford's Chapel Gallery from Jan. 15 to Feb. 7.
North Battleford Walking With Our Sisters is also holding an online Facebook art auction to help raise funds to bring the exhibition to North Battleford.
Organizers have established 21 committees and are looking for more volunteers to sign up for these committees. More than 130 people have signed up so far, but more are needed.
Each committee will have an elders committee within it. Elders will be asked in a traditional way, following the protocols of the area.
Each committee should have at least four “Keepers.” This role is to be held by traditional indigenous women who have ceremonial knowledge, perhaps have their own bundles, and can comfortably handle the sacred items. The Keepers are the ones who have the responsibility for the sacred items and to learn the protocols that come with the sacred items. This is a women’s bundle, so the sacred items need to be cared for by women. (This can include two-spirited people who carry the female spirit.)
The Keepers will each choose a helper. Keepers helpers will be asked with tobacco following traditional protocols as well. They will be able to fill in for a Keeper in case of emergency and will be taught by the Keeper about the WWOS bundle and the protocols.
The committees that have been established include finance, social media, youth co-ordinators, community conversation co-ordinators, promotion, expanded programming, school programming and tours, meals and hospitality, men’s leadership and programming, elder scheduling, telephone tree and security.
There will also be an exhibition installation volunteer committee. The installation will be co-ordinated and directed by the national collective. Local volunteer roles during the installation will be general duties, which could include making lunch, cleaning and assisting with the installation and completion of the exhibition in any way.
Walking With Our Sisters is a massive commemorative art installation made up of more than 1,763 pairs of moccasin vamps (tops) plus 108 pairs of children’s vamps. The large collaborative art piece is being made available to the public through selected galleries and locations and has been on tour since 2013 with bookings into 2019.
The work exists as a floor installation made up of beaded vamps arranged in a winding path formation on fabric and includes cedar boughs. Viewers remove their shoes to walk on a path of cloth alongside the vamps.
Each pair of vamps represents one missing or murdered indigenous woman. The unfinished moccasins represent the unfinished lives of the women whose lives were cut short. The children’s vamps are dedicated to children who never returned home from residential schools. Together the installation represents all these women, paying respect to their lives.
In addition to the moccasin tops, 60 songs were submitted for the audio portion of the exhibit. Those songs are heard while audiences experience the e
