Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Mekinawewin: to give a gift, Remediation Room edition, 2021.

Rooted in a circular process of remediation, this multi-day papermaking workshop was an invitation to guests on Treaty 7 territory to enter into a relationship that recognizes the role of reciprocity and transformation in processes of repair, healing, and restoration.

The workshop unfolded over three days with online and in-person participation. Participants in Otôskwanihk/Mohkinstsis (Calgary) were invited to choose personally relevant materials that they would like to remediate by transforming them into handmade paper. Materials could be paper or plant-based. Paper documents related to health, family heritage, culture, education, work, and/or political spheres. As the global pandemic continues to take lives and widen income and wealth inequalities, they were also invited to bring records, reflections, stories, or documents related to the last year and a half related to COVID-19.

Throughout several iterations of this project, Cardinal’s focus has been on hosting multiple workshops with various community organizations, families, and individuals. Conversations revolve around Indigenous histories and ways of knowing. In keeping with Nêhiyaw tradition, the artist requested the first paper sheet that an individual pulled, to stay with the project.

Scroll down to view images of Day Three: Gifting & Letting Go.

On the final day of the workshop, the group reconvened at St. Patrick’s Park on a sunny morning to complete the cycle of remediation. Through a sharing circle led by Elder Darryl Brass Jr., participants shared their paper sheets and things that they had learned or discovered through the process. As the sheets of paper were passed around, each person marveled at the beauty of handmade paper noting the textures, colours, and rough edges. Each sheet was unique and asked to be held and observed with care, re-figuring our attention to the materials now transformed. Imperfections made each sheet of handmade paper unique and beautiful.

A sheet from each participant was gifted to the artist to stay with the project. As the process of gifting was discussed, questions were posed: what did it mean to remediate these materials? What is the paper infused with? What do you want to remediate? How did the materials transform through the process of pulping, pulling, re-forming, and re-configuring? What does it mean to give this paper to the land? To each other? To someone else? To the elements? 

Images: Alana Bartol and Caro Ging Video still: Anna McFarlane