Nokomis

I created this mural for my Grammie. I wanted to give thanks to her and honour her life and her journey. She was a genocidal camp survivor, (formerly known as residential “school” survivor) and I am here today and have my culture, because she survived. I created this mural as I moved through the collective grief felt by Indigenous people, as we continue to bring our children home from unmarked graves across “so called Canada”. This mural is for my Indigenous kin whose hearts may be heavy with grief. These are the waters and lands of where I come from and I share that love and medicine with you. I hope you feel a lightness lift. I hope you feel love and held when you see it in person and or virtually. I hope you also find ways to live, exist, thrive and find joy.

About the Artist:
Shawn Howe (They/Them) is Anishinaabe, Irish, Scottish and French. They are a Non-Binary, queer, polyamorous, neurodivergent, disabled person living in Tkaronto. They come from Neyaashiinigmiing First Nation, with membership in Sipekne’katik First Nation.

They work as a co-facilitator for Our Stories our Truths (OSOT) which is a community art program for Indigenous youth and they also co-run Earth Sky Collective, which is a mural collective for 2SLGBTQIAP+ Indigenous people in Tkaronto.

Shawn draws inspiration from their culture, community, kin, queerness, and their love and relation to the land. They create art that embodies a fluid and infinite way they see the cosmos, animals, water and ancestors. They seek to create visual stories/murals where love and joy can be felt and where we can engage in deeper conversations to move beyond oneself, and think about our relations with the land and each other.

About Women Paint Riverside:
‘Women Paint Riverside: Currents of Change’ is a public art program about transformation, community, and our relationship to the Don River and Lake Ontario into which the Riverside community flows. Twenty+ murals that form this project add beauty and colour to the laneways in the Riverside community, celebrate our important relationship with water, and were created by women and gender diverse artists from various backgrounds. This project is a partnership between East End Arts, Women Paint, Native Women in the Arts, and the Riverside BIA. #WomenPaintRiverside

This project was made possible with funding support by StreetArt Toronto, Hullmark, Streetcar Developments, and the Riverside BIA

Learn More:
www.eastendarts.ca/women-paint-riverside

Where to Find This Mural

Location: 728 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4M 1H2 Get Directions

Accessibility: Easily Accessible