My reasons for enrolling in ARTH 2124 are varied. But I feel it’s important to preface this with an acknowledgment that, in some respects, calling it “Art History” might be problematic, because it’s a history that’s still living, still remembered, with a wealth of protocols that are still being explored by living, contemporary Indigenous artists. To call it a history seems to relegate it to the past, as if it only belonged to a culture that was now extinct.

Having said that, I am taking this course as I am curious to know more about the stories Indigenous artists are expressing through, what Indigenous writer Jesse Wente calls, their narrative sovereignty using whatever creative tools and techniques than they want.

I look at this Earth school and how cruelly so many choose to treat themselves, as well as each other, and the planet, and I feel gripped with despair. The hatred and greed make it easy to become cynical, and to give up on holding reverence for all life. But then I read passages like this one, by the late Richard Wagamese wrote, in his book One Story, One Song:

“We are one spirit, one song, and our world will be harmonious only when we make the time to care. For ourselves. For each other. For our home. You don’t need to be a Native person to understand that—just human” (37).

And I’m reminded how important it is to continue caring, no matter what.