Indigenous artist in Winnipeg unveils powerful exhibit
Posted March 16, 2025 3:40 pm.
Last Updated March 17, 2025 9:14 am.
A special one-day exhibit was unveiled Sunday at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. It’s called My Peoples Journey, featuring the work of Indigenous artist Jedrick Thorassie, showing the history of the Sayisi dene people, their forced relocation to Churchill, and eventual return home.
“They were used to living with trees, and hunting, so all that was taken away from them. So a lot of people started dying and got into alcohol. And then they moved back home to their land, so I just wanted to share that whole story,” explained Thorassie.
“It was like, an awakening, doing this art.”
The exhibit featured 10 pieces, each depicting a different aspect of the First Nation’s survival, through the racism they endured. For Thorassie, working on the project gave him a different perspective on his own roots.
“When I was painting these images like I painted this one of my mom. It made me realize you know, like my mom went through stuff too. She had her issues and her troubles. It made me realize I shouldn’t be so hard on my mom and blame her for stuff,” he explained.
Lionel Houston, a helper with the Sagekeeng First Nations adds, “The story was horrific, you know it’s a story about displacement, which almost killed a whole nation all for the good of resources. Right? But they’re thriving again.”
The exhibit was attended by dozens of people, and Thorassie hopes his continued rise in the art world can be an inspiration for others from his community.
“Life was pretty hard for me, I did a number of things I was on council, I was a welder for a while, I did so many things. And man, I feel complete now, like I was supposed to be doing this all along, so I hope I can inspire people. Yeah,” explained Thorassie.
