Following Mother’s day weekend the Vancouver Art Gallery is hosting a program series called Indigenous Beauty. The goal of Indigenous Beauty is to listen and magnify Indigenous voices as well as allowing Indigenous peoples to establish themselves.
In honour of #MothersDay, our next #IndigenousBeauty will focus on motherhood from an Indigenous perspective. We'll be joined by Christie Lee Charles & Fawn Wood, who will discuss how they balance motherhood, community, language & their careers as artists. https://t.co/qmzJHF3l4Z pic.twitter.com/IlXPpI9fmk
— Vancouver Art Gallery (@VanArtGallery) May 7, 2022
In recognition of Mother’s Day, the next episode of Indigenous Beauty will be about what motherhood is like from an Indigenous woman’s perspective and how to find a balance between motherhood, language, culture, and community. The host of Indigenous Beauty, Shadae Rose Johnson will be speaking with Christie Lee Charles and Fawn Wood who are both gifted artists- they will also be discussing how they balance their career in life as well. A routine of keeping a balance between language, culture, community, work and family is essential in many Indigenous cultures.
Charles and Wood would like to pass along their ancestral language to their children. Wood speaks Cree and Charles speaks an early hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ dialect. The fact that these women still speak their ancestral language is beautiful, and it’s something that is not heard of much anymore- as colonization tried to strip it away.
Christie Lee Charles is an emcee and sh has also served as a minister for Musqueam Youth Claiming Spaces. At the museum of Vancouver Charles also served as an Artistic Advisor. Charles has emceed many events like Canada Day at Granville Island, Welcoming the Sun Festival, Feminist Deliver, UBC Indigenous Voices Awards and Vancouver Street Dance Festival to name a few.
Fawn Wood is a musician and has three award winning albums at the moment. Her singing is a reflection of her Cree and Salish heritage.
As the series, Indigenous beauty grows and develops Indigenous peoples in Turtle Island are invited and welcomed to share their program suggestions and participation for a future episode of Indigenous Beauty.
This Mother’s Day episode of Indigenous Beauty will take place on Thursday, May 12th, 2022 at 1PM on Zoom and will also be streamed to the Vancouver Art Gallery’s facebook account.