Visual artist
Baileigh Nolan is a member of Missanabie Cree First Nation and a current member of the Indigenous Youth Council for her Band. She has been fortunate to attend Missanabie Cree’s Annual Gathering in Northern Ontario since birth and has taken part in many Indigenous teachings. This summer she stretched/birthed her own drum adding her own artistic touch with paint to honour her Bear Clan. A grade 11 student at Heart Lake Secondary School in Brampton ON, she is enrolled in the Specialist High Skills Major-Arts and Culture to hone her art skills.
Turtle & Feather
Turtle & Feather combines traditional Indigenous symbols as an exploration of Indigenous identity and discovering how to fit into this world as an Anishinaabe youth born and raised in an urban region of Ontario with rural northern roots. The turtle represents Turtle Island which was home long before Canada was envisioned. The feather represents the connection between nature, the Creator, and the feather’s owner, who uses the feather for ceremony as a way to maintain a connection to the community. The circle surrounding the turtle and feather is a simplified Medicine Wheel. The orange multi-layered background is symbolic of the “Every Child Matters” movement which honours the children who never returned from Residential Schools and also recognizes the grief their surviving families are forced to live with. Symbols play an important role in remembering our past.