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Item Name: Photograph
Title: Resilience
Maker: Jaime Black
Year: 2017
Materials: archival ink on hahnemuhle photo rag 308
Measurements: 19x20"
ID Number: PC2021.13.2
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: In "Resilience", a joyful swirl of red is a portrait by Métis artist Jaime Black of herself, dancing in the forest. This image is a declaration of presence and connection, a performance that grew out of Black’s work, “The REDress Project” which uses empty red dresses hung in public spaces to mark the loss of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. While the REDress installations used empty dresses to mark the spaces of those who are absent, this photograph shows Black re-embodying the red dress. She is very present, an image of strength and vitality. Black’s performance also demonstrates the Indigenous value of dance as a method for restoring wellbeing. In Sylvie Roy’s study of dance in Métis culture, the women Roy interviewed identified that the practice of dance offers self-knowledge, self-esteem, and cultural identity. It is a site of teaching and learning between generations. These are also elements that help people to adapt and survive in stressful times of adversity, or tragedy. In 2018, this photo by Jaime Black was part of “Resilience”, a cross-country billboard project featuring work by Indigenous female artists curated by Lee Ann Martin in response to Call to Action #79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report: the integration of Indigenous history, heritage values, and memory practices into Canada’s national heritage and history. Jaime Black is a multidisciplinary artist of mixed Anishinaabe and Finnish descent. She uses new media, installation and multi-media performances to open dialogues on issues of social, political and environmental urgency. Her artwork is grounded in an understanding of the body and the land as sources of cultural and spiritual knowledge. Black grew up in Thunder Bay on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, and the Robinson-Superior Treaty, and at age 12 moved to Winnipeg, which is Treaty 1 Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinabe (Ojibway), Ininew (Cree), Oji-Cree, Dene, and Dakota, and is the Birthplace of the Métis Nation and the Heart of the Métis Nation Homeland. She earned her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba (2004) in Literature and Native Studies, and her Bachelor of Education, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (2008).