Attempts at Reparation, 2014

Attempts at reparation is a performance I created in 2014 while participating in Luminous Bodies, a a residency on the Toronto Islands. This performance involved an axis that aligned with the cardinal directions, at each node of which I produced Nazar sculptures out of natural materials collected over the duration of the residency, as well as Turkish sumac. The materials at each node, aligned with teachings that Cheryl L’Hirondelle (aka Waynohtew, Cheryl Koprek) shared with me, regarding each direction (Earth-Stone, Air-Feather, Water-lake, Fire-wood, Spirit/above/below-Sumac). The axis was demarcated with Turkish Sumac–a slash of red in the earth.

Attempts at reparation is just that—an attempt. It is not redemption. I claim no innocence. It is, rather, a gesture of acknowledgment and solidarity from my specific subject position. As a diasporic subject, I have no land, and yet, I am deeply connected to this place. I benefit from the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous people, while simultaneously work to decolonize myself, standing in solidarity with the people of this land.