#HopeAndHealingCanada: An Installation by Tracey-Mae Chambers

by Shelby Smith

Tracey-Mae Chambers is an installation artist and member of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Since 2021, Chambers has been traveling across Canada and the USA creating site specific art installations at residential school historical sites, cultural centres, museums, art galleries, and other public spaces including Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Parliament Hill and the Archives of Ontario. The installations are created using large pre-made crochet and knit pieces made with red yarn.  At the end of each installation project, the pieces are disassembled and returned to the artist so that she may repurpose them for future venues. These projects entitled #hopeandhealingcanada and #hopeandhealingusa aim to broach the subject of decolonization with viewers.

“Many (but not all) of these public spaces serve to present a colonial viewpoint and primarily speak about the settlers who arrived and lived here but not the Indigenous people that were displaced along the way. The decolonization of such places is a ponderous task and must be shouldered collectively. The discussion of reconciliation and decolonization is hard to start and harder still to maintain. Therefore, I am hoping to use my work to help bridge the gap between settlers and Indigenous, Métis and Inuit people by creating art that is approachable and non-confrontational so we can start. As I am part Métis and European I am conscious of the privilege my ‘whiteness’ affords me and bridging this gap is in fact a form of self education and self healing.” 

– Tracey-Mae Chambers

The Muse is pleased to present Hope and Healing Canada at the Douglas Family Art Centre throughout the summer months of 2022. Check out the gallery below for photos of Tracey-Mae installing her work on-site.