The Path To Reconciliation Mural Project
The Path To Reconciliation mural project is a collaborative initiative between the Creative City Centre and Regina Downtown.
This mural was installed on the paving stones of a pedestrian-only city block, in an 8-foot-wide path down the centre of the FW Hill Mall, on the 1800 block of Scarth Street. The mural was designed and installed by our two lead artists, Geanna Dunbar and Brandy Jones, supported by Elder Brenda Dubois and Cultural/Indigenous Art Advisor Audrey Dreaver (First Nations University of Canada), with the assistance of almost 200 volunteers from our community. The mural painting was completed between June 1 and June 17 and was dedicated on National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, 2023.
The Kawacatoose Boys Powwow Dancers lead a procession from the stage at the sound end of the mural to the cenotaph in Victoria Park, where the Grand Entry for National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations took place.
The mural has been receiving international attention, with an article in NYC-based HyperAllergic arts magazine, that you can read here. It has also been shortlisted for a Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Engagement. You can read more about that here!
The Path To Reconciliation mural project is a collaborative initiative between the Creative City Centre and Regina Downtown.
The vision for this project is centered within our moral obligation to contribute to reconciliation efforts in Regina and Saskatchewan. Regina Downtown has led numerous public art programs including the Footprints Commemorative Indigenous Art Project to honour victims and survivors of residential schools; art{outside} with the Mackenzie Art Gallery; an expanded Urban Canvas program with Economic Development Regina, and many others. RDBID and Creative City Centre have worked together on initiatives like Pop Up Downtown, the Regina Tornado Legacy Project, Art in the Park and Frost Festival Regina.
Learn more about Regina Downtown here.
Meet the Artists
Geanna Dunbar
Geanna Dunbar is a Cree-Métis spoken word artist, visual artist and entrepreneur from Regina, Saskatchewan. She works in mixed media collage, sculpture, acrylic, street art, chalkboard and window painting, and large-scale murals. Her poetry often reflects real life issues and art. With a special interest in sustainable art and interdisciplinary community collaboration, Geanna often sets personal challenges that help her grow and deepen her relationship with her environment and with others. Geanna’s chalkboard work can be found at venues like Bonzinni’s Brew Pub, Vintage Vinyl and Fresh & Sweet, while her mural projects are on display in the Albert Street underpass at Saskatchewan Drive, the Wascana Park pedestrian underpass at 19th Avenue and Albert, and on the side of the building at the corner of Saskatchewan Drive and Elphinstone Street. Geanna has organized events like Art In the Park (Fall 2021) and the snow and ice sculptures at the Regina Frost Festival for the past two years.
Brandy Jones
Brandy Jones is an Inuvialuit and Gwitchin artist originally from Williams Lake, British Columbia who now makes her home on Treaty 4 Territory in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is inspired by several forms of Native art. Her use of abstract mixed mediums challenges the viewer to explore the layers of beauty that lie within her culture. Brandy’s work represents the unity of all Indigenous nations and forms a unique style of her own while honoring traditional styles. Her work is a celebration of the beauty, success, hardships, and perseverance of Indigenous peoples. She uses her gifts to educate, inspire and motivate people to explore Indigenous art. Brandy is privileged to work full time as an artist. Her work has been used as the main brand for the Regina Frost Festival for the past two years, and she has also participated in Frost Festival as a snow and ice sculptor.
About the Project
The Path to Reconciliation represents many things we have in our lives and in traditional teachings. First, we have the shape of the bead, the Sacred Circle. These beads together in unison form the path ahead of you. The beads are bonded and do not break. This is representing a community: people from different walks of life, coming together and working together. This path brings a community together. Each bead painted as a team helps build a better community. We can not have reconciliation without first acknowledging the truth. We can’t have reconciliation without resurgence, reclamation, reciprocity and the capacity to evolve and make systemic change.
During our conversations with an elder, she spoke of when the river waters and the oceans meet and merge together. Water always finds a way through obstacles; it will shape-shift and adapt. Water also carries the power to smooth edges, feed the land for growth and new life. We have water throughout the beaded belt, flowing our images down to the end.
In Indigenous culture, the bison is the beginning and ending of life. Every part of the bison was used to provide shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting tools, and for spiritual ceremonies and many other necessities. The trail of bones represents the importance of the bison. The area we call home (Treaty 4 Territory) was one of the most important places where Indigenous people would come and hunt the bison. They began to stack the bison bones into piles to honor the animal’s spirit. The imprint of colonialism brought white hunters in, over hunting the bison almost to extinction. This beaded path has various bones that trail down to honor the history of the land and acknowledge the impact of colonialism.
Pre-contact, Indigenous people would adorn their clothing with traditional materials including bone, teeth, textiles, shells, porcupine quills, seeds and organisms. They placed florals and greenery to showcase the abundance of the landscape they used everyday, that urban environments now take for granted.
The northern lights are part of life’s cycle. They are placed throughout the path to honor those who are no longer with us, those who were affected by the cultural genocide caused by colonialism. They represent our ancestors, who are always watching out for us and communicating, looking down, guiding us in all our decisions.
At the end of this path is the white buffalo. The white buffalo in teachings represents part of life’s sacred loop. We believe it is a sign of a prophecy fulfilled, a sign of hope and an indication of good times and prosperity to come for Indigenous peoples. We are all Treaty people.
