ᑮᐦᑳᔮᓱᐁᐧᐤ KÎHKÂYÂSOWÊW / SHE SHINES BRIGHTLY

“As two Nehiyaw Iskwewak (Cree women) artists, we were both impacted by the loss of a community matriarch, artisan, and entrepreneur, Amy Willier, the co-founder of Moonstone Creations in Inglewood. In our state of grief for such a big loss in the Alberta Indigenous art’s community, we created this piece in tribute to the powerful legacy Amy Willier has left in our hearts. For this year’s BUMP 2021 Festival, we approached Yvonne Jobin, Amy’s mother, to propose doing a large-scale permanent mural to honour the love and light Amy brought to the community of Calgary and received her consent.

This piece was created in collaboration with both Kayla Bellerose and Mackenzie Brown. The portrait of Amy wearing a buffalo robe is a recreation of an original photograph by Yamuna Flaherty, a photographer and friend of Amy’s. The circle behind Amy’s portrait is the sun with 7 beams of light representing the 7 Sacred Teachings of Truth, Honesty, Respect, Humility, Love, Wisdom, and Courage. Amy Willier embodied these teachings with the way she lived her life with family and community. The symmetrical butterflies represent the transformation of coming from darkness into light, and we chose the colour orange to honour the children being found at unmarked mass graves in residential schools across Canada, and green to honour the intergenerational healing of our future generations. Amy advocated for Orange Shirt Day for years, so we know that she is now a helper in the spirit world bringing home the children who never made it back to their family.

Lastly, Amy was a knowledge keeper of Cree women’s medicine, and shared teachings with Kayla before passing, so the beaded style plant life in front of Amy represents the medicine teachings she shared, and are stylistically like beadwork to honour her legacy as an Indigenous artisan and beader. Raspberries, rose hips, and sage are women’s medicines that Amy shared teachings about before her passing. The tiger lily in her hair was suggested by Yvonne who shared that those were her favourite flowers, and they grow wild throughout Alberta.

We are grateful for the opportunity to honour the legacy Amy has left us, hiy hiy to her family, friends and community for the love and support throughout the creation of this piece. We love you Amy.”

Text taken from YYC BUMP (Beltline Urban Murals Project)
Sponsored by TD Canada Trust

For more information on this mural visit:
https://tinyurl.com/4fxdwjjj

Where to Find This Mural

Location: 1229 MACLEOD TRAIL SE, T2G 2K4, CALGARY, ALBERTA Get Directions