Indigenous art installed permanently at Edmonton City Hall

Brad Crowfoot, Dawn Marie Marchand, and Lana Whiskeyjack are all smiles presenting their art to Edmonton's City Hall. Photo by Ryan Hunt.

Four Indigenous artists were honored by having their art pieces permanently hung inside Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday.

The art pieces – created by artists Dawn Marie Marchand, Brad Crowfoot, Lana Whiskeyjack and MJ Belcourt – are hung just outside of the city council chambers, one of the busiest areas of city hall.

The city brought the four artists on board in 2019 as a part of Edmonton’s Indigenous Framework project, and the art pieces were revealed during the June 13 ceremony at city hall.

Crowfoot, the artist of the piece called “Heartbeat of a Nation,” said that his main inspiration was the role “partnership” has played with his art.

“The City of Edmonton displays some Indigenous artwork I have in Beaver Hills Park, [as well as] Macewan University. Even the cookum scarf that I use, you can see that as a partnership between the Ukrainians and the First Nations,” he said.

“We’ve formed this respect for each other, and we’ve adopted their scarf as our own,” Crowfoot added.

Brad Crowfoot’s “Heartbeat of a Nation” painting on display in Edmonton City Hall. Photo by Ryan Hunt.

Whiskeyjack, the artist of the piece called “PISISKAPAHTAM (to notice and observe or watch)”, said Indigenous culture uses art as a way of storytelling, as well as to inspire younger generations to tell the stories of the past.

“We’re highly visual literate people. We’ve constantly been reminded [of the] unworthiness through systemic racism and violence,” Whiskeyjack said. “I hope [the youth] keep creating and keep building their creative muscle to show and share widely. I hope [the art] inspires them to learn more about what the symbolism means”.

“Hopefully, [this exhibit will] undo some of the racist or misinformed information people have developed around Indigenous people,” Whiskeyjack added.