HomeGround Festival 2018

February 7th, 8th and 9th

This year for the Homeground Gallery Gachet has teamed up with WePress and artist, Jeska Slaterm, to create a project called Starblanket Medicine Mural: Visions for our Community. Festival goers are invited to contribute a diamond piece to a collective Starblanket by drawing or writing their hopes for our neighbourhood. The individual diamonds are to represent the idea that every person has a place in our larger and connected community. Each diamond will be installed as part of an art mural that will be installed at the front entrance of the Carnegie Community Centre.

The Starblanket is an example of First Nations’ resilient use of materials at hand, to evolve cultural practices. They replaced the practice of making buffalo robes, during a period of colonization when the buffalo were being driven to extinction. To receive a star blanket is one of the highest honours in some Plains cultures. This Starblanket will represent safety and unity. We will honour everyone’s intentions and hopes for their community while bringing these individual voices together to show that our communities cannot exist without the gifts of each individual.

Jeska Slater is a Nehiyah iskwew (Cree woman) whose Mother’s side of the family is from Ochekwi Sipi (Fisher River Cree Nation) in Manitoba. Jeska is the founder of Young Artist Warriors (YAW). YAW’s mandate is to actively honour Indigenous knowledge and protocol while fostering positive identity development through contemporary art-making. Her work combines tradiotional teachings and value systems with contemporary art mediums. Jeska has ten-year’s experience working with Indigenous communities with a specialization in education. She has mentored with many professional Indigenous artists for painting, regalia making, West Coast Design Protocol and beadwork. Jeska honours her ancestry by highlighting the concept of intergenerational resilience, which is the passing down of cultural strengths, and ancestral gifts.