I could sense our people, the People of the Dawn , in it, but I was unable to capture them in my painitng. They remained invisible to me. This saddened me.
And so it is in our modern society.
The M'kmaq people have almost disappeared. They have become almost invisible, and inaudible as well...having no substance and no voice. Both have been taken.
Our people have been absorbed into modern socity, sucked into it, assimilated, and we have been spit out again...almost carbon copies of everybody else.
We exist , but are losing ourselves, as we relinquish hold upon our heritage and traditions.
With the loss of our ways and our cultural traditions , we become invisible...and it will be as if we never existed. Our essence will be destroyed.
It is with joy that I notice that the last two decades have shown a rebirth among our people.
With the revival of our culture, our heritage, language, and traditions we are again finding ourselves.
My painting, "The Invisible People" symbolizes the journey of the People of the Dawn.
It represents the time that we were a Great Nation, the time when we almost disappeared, and the time when we reclaimed our right to again become visible in this world.
Our downward spiral has been reversed as we are reborn into our transformation.
We are back...We never left....We are visible.
