In Canada, we’re in the middle of dealing with the discovery of a great number of unmarked graves of children on sites of former Indian residential schools. These schools operated between the 1870s and 1996, and about 150,000 children between the ages of 4-16 attended these schools. They were mandatory boarding schools for Indigenous peoples, funded by the Canadian government and administered by Christian churches. The children were taken away from their families and communities and forced to give up their language and culture and assimilate into the dominant settler culture.
All sorts of abuse and neglect were rampant in those institutions. A lot of children got sick with Tuberculosis, and a lot of them died. The heart-braking stories that started to emerge after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission started to work in 2008 to uncover the truth about these schools are a matter of national shame.
These are historical events, but they cast long shadows on the families of residential school survivors. The legacy is visible as the survivors struggle with PTSD, substance abuse, suicidal tendencies and mental illness. And this hurt is often propagated across generations. The impact on Canadian society is profound, and a lot of people are sad and ashamed because of the way these children were treated.
I decided to try to honour these children by putting their unknown faces on my quilt. I mono printed the drawings using my gel plate and acrylic paint. The background stencil of a brick wall seemed fitting as the school buildings often were large brick buildings that must have seemed strange and frightening to the children, almost like prisons.
Some of the faces are overlays that I printed on organza and cheesecloth. They look like ghost children to me, transparent and robbed of individuality.
The piece is mostly machine stitched, but I decided to do some hand embroidery on the dark piece of fabric, so there are lots of small crosses to symbolize the loss of life that happened in these schools.
I hope these lost children will not be forgotten and serve as a reminder that there is a lot of work to be done to reach true reconciliation with our First Nations. History should not be forgotten and we should learn from it.
The Lost Children
Regina Marzlin
Dimensions: h 40″ x w 31″
Material: hand dyed and printed cotton, organza and cheesecloth, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, thread
Technique: mono printing, piecing, raw edge applique, hand- and machine stitching
I have read about this story, & similar tragedies in the US, and seen them on the news. This work touched my heart & brought me to tears. So well done. I particularly like how you used the overlays. Very effective. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Annmarie, thanks for your thoughtful comment, I really appreciate your feedback and I’m glad the work resonated with you!
I have been reading about this too. It reminded me too of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. A fictional story about a real school in the US where children were also abused neglected and murdered. Thank you for your memorial quilt.
Thanks Martha, I have heard about the book but haven’t read it yet. Now seems to be the right time to uncover all those atrocities and reflect on the victim’s stories.
Discovery of a child who has lost his or her life in the midst of being torn from family and in a Residential school, tragic.Learning that so many disappeared without a word, and perhaps will never be identified, hearbreaking. Canada weeps.
Yes Bethany, you summed up how we all feel about this!
A beautiful tribute to these lost souls; I could look at this for hours. As a New Zealander I have only heard about these atrocities recently and am horrified (yet again) at how cruel the human race can be to its own members. So much for good Christian values; I teach primary school children and I don’t know how anyone involved in being so abusive and neglectful could have slept soundly at night. Heart-breaking for sure. Thank you for sharing (I came to it through the link being shared on our Aotearoa Quilters FB page)
Hi Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment! I’m glad I got the message across, I hope you will enjoy all the art we made for this prompt.
Wow Regina, this is so powerful.
Thanks so much Hélène!
It’s very beautiful and moving, Regina. I imagine it was a bit tough to work on. Though heartbreaking, art like this can help people face the truth and find a better way…and we certainly still need one!
Cathy, thanks a lot, making this piece actually helped me deal with this. I felt like I was giving them a voice.
Yes Deb, it is such a heartbreaking part of history, but I’m very glad you like it.
A sad story presented in a good way.
Thank you Elfriede, that’s what I was hoping for!
Regina, this is a fabulous, yet heart-wrenching quilt. The crosses really add to the piece. Great memorial.