Ketuimalqotmek

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Ketuimalgotmek explores childhood memories of spending time in grandma’s (Flora Robertson, née Isadore) garden in Montreal. I was taught how to tend to tomatoes and cucumbers, yielding so many fruits that the whole family would share over meal time. I was taught the value of L’nu storytelling via her acts of repetition and emphasis. “Remember when you gave me the hose?” she would mention and recall every visit, when my five year old self accidentally pointed the hose in her direction and drenched her while watering her abundant garden. In this nature, she teaches about how we keep stories alive by retelling them, with humour and timing. If a story is told often enough, it becomes legacy.

The illustration features a Mi'kmaq hieroglyph sourced from a grace before eating prayer. Hieroglyphs were our earliest recorded form of language, largely due in part to Jesuit missionaries converting prayers into L'nuismk (Mi'kmaq language). The usage of language are intentional acts of revitalization, similar to my grandmother’s teaching about keeping stories alive. L'nu artist and fluent language speaker, Michelle Sylliboy’s notable cultural work in recontextualizing a hieroglyphic lexicon for Mi'kmaq people inspires this piece. The lexicon serves to shift the emphasis of colonial pain from the prayer book influence, reclaiming our narratives and engagement with culture. I wanted ketuimalgotmek to highlight the empowerment in our communities as they develop new relationships with food and access, honouring netukulimk and msit no’kmaq by connecting story and language to foodways.

The repeated tomato motifs speak of these memories on top of textured 3D renderings using the program Cinema 4D, conveying a dreamlike space where plant knowledge connects with cosmology. The textural and colour elements envision star stories and plant stories, interwoven with embedded knowledge of the animacies of both. Fiddleheads (ma’susi) are featured as a traditional food source.

Where it's been: Philanthropist Magazine