Photo exhibit at Park Place focuses on Blackfoot culture, identity
Blackfoot culture and identity through child rearing is on display at the Park Place Shopping Centre as part of a collaborative project between Opokaa’sin and the University of Lethbridge.
The Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, with support from the U of L’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS), presented a photo exhibit titled “Raising Spirit: The Opokaa’sin Digital Storytelling Project” on Friday.
The display features photos of local Blackfoot families in everyday moments of child rearing, a testament to Blackfoot culture and identity as it continues to thrive despite disruptions such as the residential schooling system and other acts of assimilation.
The exhibit runs for two weeks and is a facet of a larger project of the same name in which Blackfoot Elders and children will come together to develop interactive digital recordings of traditional cultural stories — a way to preserve the past for future generations.
“This project really speaks to our strengths as Blackfoot people,” said Tanya Pace-Crosschild, executive director of Opokaa’sin. “Family was such a core part of our lives. It was what centred us as a community and as a people.”
The project is also important because it furthers a participant driven approach, builds on the earlier work done between Opokaa’sin and ICYS, led by principal investigator Jan Newberry, a U of L anthropology professor, and will create an archive for future use.
“We’re always really reluctant as Blackfoot people to be engaged in research,” Pace-Crosschild said. “This is a chance for us to take the driver’s seat and study what’s important to us. What can move us forward.”
She noted the importance of being involved in the development of the project, as opposed to simply being the subject of it.
“Not just to study it for the purpose of studying something, but actually own the research and be able to develop programs and services that are unique in terms of Blackfoot child rearing practices,” she said.
Erin Spring, a post doctorate fellow in the I-CYS, said the project started with 8,000 photos of everyday child rearing practices which were narrowed down to around 80. They then took photos into the Blackfoot community and asked people to comment on their impressions of the photos.
“The text that is intersected on a lot of these photos is drawn from those interviews,” she said. “The text doesn’t necessarily match the photos.”
The project is part of an ongoing collaborative partnership with Opokaa’sin. Amy Mack, lead researcher, said it is important for the university to set a precedent for this sort of work.
“One of the things we’re looking at is whether the project can help promote youth resiliency,” she said. “So this will hopefully be an ethical and methodological precedent for similar projects because these sort of digital narrative projects are becoming much more common across Canada.
“There’s a broader, overarching goal of helping indigenous communities in general when they are trying to work through these projects.”
The exhibit runs until March 19. A formal public reception for the opening of the exhibit will take place on March 21 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society.
The exhibit will then be moved to Casa. Select photos from the exhibit will also be displayed on Casa’s external message board.
Follow @JWSchnarrHerald on Twitter