On Sunday, June 16, we joined community members for a beautiful National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Oppenheimer Park.
The sun was out and so were people of all ages, including Elders and lots of children!
Many joined us to construct their own kites from our upcycled materials, decorate them with incredible art and fly them!
While we made kites, we chatted about memories across cultures of kite fighting, flying and playing with our friends and families. Kites transcend age and language and truly brought out the joy in everyone who came by!
Following our activation of the skies, we packed up our kite making supplies and moved (literally) into our art on the streets portion of the day!
With large pre-made stencils - with words such as Indigenous, Unceded, Our Connections, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw and Tsleil-Waututh - we walked the perimeter of the park.
Along the way, we activated the sidewalks, basketball courts, walkways and other spaces with community members we met. They chalked the streets with land acknowledgements and all sorts of free style "graffiti" art.
Many people talked about how meaningful it was to mark the space and occasion with their territory and other Indigenous and unceded territory names.
Having so many Indigenous children, youth and Elders engaging with the street chalk art/"graffiti" was one of the highlights of the day! We felt honoured to be there.
It was also wonderful to have board members and community leaders join in the creativity!
Prepping for 2 days to create materials for the kite kits and large stencils was so worth the outpouring of creativity in the park!
We were honoured to be invited to another National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration at Carnegie Community Centre on Friday, June 21.
We explored creative expression through colour. Community members created beautiful ' stained glass' wall and window hangings from every day objects.
Intentionally designed to be mobile and durable, these 'stained glass' creations hang anywhere, from a tree to a tent to a window. They bring beauty into our everyday lives as the sun shines through the colours.
At the halfway point of our residency, things continue to be busy and blossom with the boundless creativity and talent of DTES community members.
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