Student art projects on display at Museum of Ontario Archaeology

April 22, 2016

Students in their first year of the First Nations Studies program at Western are showcasing what they learned, with an art display at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology.

Decolonizing Frames: Questioning, Critiquing, and Celebrating Indigenous Representation, is running now until Sunday, Aug. 28.

The project allowed the students to take what they learned in class and display their lessons through many traditional techniques and expressions of Indigenous culture, reflecting on the history and current situations facing Indigenous peoples, including Idle No More and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

“I was noticing this massive uprising of creativity and expression of Indigenous self-determination and solidarity through Idle No More through my students. I knew I had to re-write the syllabus and allow them more autonomy and say in what happens with the course,” Fehr said, in an interview with Western News

Brittany Elm and Shelby Phillips, students in the program, spoke with CBC’s Afternoon Drive about their experiences in the program and their thoughts on the exhibit. Listen here.

Read more what inspired Professor Rick Fehr to launch the project.