#hopeandhealingcanada
Site specific art installations across Canada
Reconciliation and decolonization

I am a Métis installation artist.  I am a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario.   My family is from and some still reside in the traditional Métis community in Sault Ste Marie and Penetanguishene, Ontario. I am traveling Canada creating site specific art installations at residential school historical sites, cultural centres, museums, art galleries and other public spaces. 

​The goal of these works is to broach the subject of decolonization with viewers and staff.  The installations are created with large premade crochet, and knit pieces made with red yarn.  These are created both inside and outside and weather the elements quite successfully. The installations can be in place for as long as the venue would like.  Once dismantled the work itself will be returned to me and it will be reworked and repurposed at another site somewhere in the country.  The stories from each participating venue will culminate into a book and traveling exhibition. 
 
Many (but not all)  of these Canadian public spaces serve to present a colonial viewpoint and primarily speak about the settlers who arrived and lived here but not the Indigenous people that were displaced along the way.  The decolonization of such places is a ponderous task and must be shouldered collectively.  The discussion of reconciliation and decolonization is hard to start and harder still to maintain.  Therefore, I am hoping to use my work to help bridge the gap between settlers and Indigenous, Métis and Inuit people by creating art that is approachable and non-confrontational so we can start.  As I am part Métis and European I am conscious of the privilege my 'whiteness' affords me and bridging this gap is in fact a form of self education and self healing.   I have entitled this body of work #hopeandhealingcanada .
Maarsi poor toon taan, 
--
Tracey-Mae Chambers

Photos.

Venues 2022

Stratford Art Gallery
​Bruce County Museum 
Southhampton Arts
Deep Water Gallery 
University of Waterloo Gallery

Completed Venues 2021 
K2 Gallery 
Gage Park 
Stratford Art Gallery
NRPC- Balls Falls
Niagara Pumphouse Gallery
Riverbrink Art Museum
Niagara Falls City Hall
Grimsby Public Art Gallery
Bayfront Park Hamilton
Dundas Museum and Archives
Port Dover Harbour Museum
Carnegie Gallery
Craft Ontario
City of Pickering
Trillium Health Partners Mississauga
Orillia Museum of Arts & History
McMaster Art Museum
​Black Creek Pioneer Village
Mississippi Valley Textile Museum National Historic Site
Celebration of Nations St Catharines
M'Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre
Tom Thomson Art Gallery
Guelph Museums
Woodland Cultural Centre
Humber Galleries
​Peel Art Gallery S
Queen Elizabeth Cultural Centre Oakville
Hamilton Art Gallery
Parliament Hill
McIntosh Art Gallery @Western University
Niagara Arts Centre 
Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre
Sault St Marie Museum
Wellington County Museum
Cultural Centre Halton Hills
Gibson Museum
Todmorden Mills
Montgomery"s Inn
Spadina Museum
Colborne Lodge
Scarborough Museum
Fort York
Mississauga Festival of trees
Waterloo Park

​

LINKS TO PRESS
www.cbc.ca/arts/using-thousands-of-metres-of-red-string-this-metis-artist-is-bringing-a-message-of-healing-across-canada-1.6194051

​humber.ca/today/news/decolonize-decolonize-decolonize-artist-brings-hopeandhealingcanada-humber
​
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/tracey-mae-chambers-trc-hope-and-healing-canada-1.6193885

www.mississauga.com/news-story/10479880-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-rings-hollow-for-some-members-of-the-indigenous-community/

www.insideottawavalley.com/news-story/10476360-m-tis-artist-fosters-hope-and-healing-with-almonte-art-installation/

guelphmuseums.ca/event/hope-and-healing-tracey-mae-chambers-exhibition/
​
Stratford Herald
stratfordbeaconherald.prod.postmedia.digital/entertainment/local-arts/metis-artist-looks-to-inspire-hope-and-healing-with-outdoor-exhibit-at-gallery-stratford
​
Hamilton Spectator
www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2021/08/10/hamilton-artist-is-stitching-together-a-fractured-world.html

​