I am a Cree woman, a Nehiyaw Iskwew. I’m a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation. My dad is from Saddle Lake Cree Nation and is Nehiyaw, Metis and Ojibwa. My mum is from England and is English and Welsh. I grew up in Kikino Metis settlement, although we did live for a while in Saddle Lake when I was really young.

We were always outside and learning on the land. We would spend so much time exploring that we were very comfortable in the bush. We were always visiting our aunties and uncles, cousins and other family at Saddle Lake. When I am asked about my family my mind always travels to my very large family. I grew up surrounded by Nehiyaw culture, so that is how I identify. This causes some confusion for people and I am often asked to explain who I am.

It is difficult to justify who you are when others try to tell you what your identity should be. My growing up has impacted my ideas of who I am and how I see the world. I have a very large family. I was always asking how everyone was my cousins, aunties, uncles, mosom’s and kokom’s. So my mum and dad were always explaining how everyone was related to us. When I was 15, I started recording a family tree. I was curious to know how far back I could go. Overtime I’ve learned the context of my family tree in relation to Canadian history and the impact of colonization on my father’s side of the family. There are far more documents than one would expect and these documents support and enhance oral traditions.

My art is an expression of both sides of myself, it expresses my identity. It is deeply influenced by my experiences, of my cultural

experiences; my picking of medicines, my listening to stories and sitting with family elders.

I’m often asked why do you paint in this way? My answer is usually do you ask someone who grew up on a farm why they paint farms? For me, art is about who you are, what you connect to and how the simple pleasure of creating something brings healing, joy and fulfillment to those who create it. The history that my family tells is the story of how we have survived. My art is how I try to share that with others so they too know where they come from and how they survived.