“Honour of the Crown” throws the issue of incomprehensible treatment of indigenous peoples of Canada in your face. The long history of residential schools and smallpox blankets are omnipresent. The skulls, just a small reminder of the many deaths through generational trauma, sit at the bottom of a tall stack of blankets - normally gifts to keep us warm, turned to death-bringers as colonists sought to exterminate the “Indian” from the face of North America. The Honour of the Crown is indeed brought into question, with St. Edward’s Crown sitting atop the blankets, the raven trickster perched, ready to go either way with reconciliation issues. Carved into the white area around the image, are quotes from residential school survivors, racist comments heard directly by the artist from both indigenous and non-indigenous friends and family. “Honour of the Crown” is a hard-hitting work, calling upon us to examine our position, and our bias in truth and reconciliation and acknowledge our contributions to this legacy.
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