The "Loved" art installation put together by Carlton's Mikayla Thomas and Elijah Waditaka. (Submitted photo/Mel Mirasty)

By Jeff D’Andrea

remembering

Two Carlton art students send their love to residential school survivors, and those that didn’t come home

Jun 28, 2021 | 5:00 PM

All the recent findings of gravesites at residential schools across Canada have sparked many different emotions. For Mikayla Thomas and Elijah Waditaka, they wanted to offer up perhaps the most important emotion in a time like this, ‘love.’

The pair of Carlton Comprehensive High School students partnered together to create a five-canvas art installation in honour of those affected by the recent discoveries at residential schools across Canada. The piece was unveiled on Monday and will be on display in Prince Albert’s City Hall until July 2.

Over 80 students collaborated on the project by making clay hearts. Waditaka and Thomas decided to have the names of all the residential schools in Saskatchewan written on the hearts, as well as the number of children and unmarked graves found at the different sites.

Waditaka and Thomas also teamed up to paint five different canvases, all spelling the word “loved” for one crucial reason.

MIkayla Thomas. (Submitted photo/Melanie Mirasty)

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“None of the kids that died could get that from their parents. They couldn’t go home,” Thomas said.

The art piece is important to the artists themselves. Like so many Indigenous families in Canada, members of Waditaka’s family are residential school survivors.

“I’ve had family that have been in residential schools… They tried to take away their language, their culture, and they couldn’t,” Waditaka said. “There’s a lot of people that have made it out, but there’s lots that haven’t. There have more gravesites that have been found, not just in B.C., but in Brandon I’ve heard and in Cowessess. It’s important and people need to know about it.”

Elijah Waditaka. (Submitted photo/Mel Mirasty)

Waditaka said having the installation at city hall would go far in raising awareness and making sure everybody in Prince Albert knew what has happened.

Thomas said she was proud to have the piece on display in such an public place.

“It really means a lot. It’s really important to me.”

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jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW