Residential school survivors and supporters gathered at the Alberni Valley Museum on Oct. 23 for the official opening of We Are All One, an exhibition of artworks by students at Alberni Indian Residential School more than 50 years ago.
The paintings were created under the direction of artist Robert Aller, who worked at the school for a number of years. Unbeknownst to school officials, Aller preserved dozens of pieces, which were passed along to the University of Victoria upon his death. Since that time, a committee of survivors and academics has striven both to connect the artists with their lost images, and make them accessible to the public.
Kanowish Al Ross welcomed guests to the Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories.
“I am a survivor and I witnessed what was happening,” he said. “I always felt that the people who set up the residential school system accomplished their goal, which was to annihilate our heritage, our language and our well-being. I think that objective was met over the 100 years of their existence.
“But now we, as a nation, are trying to right this wrong. I like to see what is going on, and we appreciate all your support, especially the ones who created this artwork.”
Following a greeting by Port Alberni Mayor John Douglas, museum manager Jamie Morton acknowledged the support of UVic professors Dr. Andrea Walsh, who is a visual anthropologist, and Dr. Robena Thomas (Department of Social Work), who worked in consultation with the survivors group. Morton named Jeff, Debora and Jack Cook, Chuck August, Georgina Laing and Wally Samuel as the leaders, but noted that many others contributed along the way.
“I’d also like to acknowledge the artists themselves. It’s a real act of bravery for these people – a real act of strength – to have these things displayed… things that often related to a very uncomfortable period in their lives. It’s very difficult to share such personal documents with the community at large.”
Morton also acknowledged the family of Robert Aller for preserving the artworks, which, he said, “have become an important part of the Truth and Reconciliation process.”
Prior to inviting fellow survivors to help cut the ribbon to open the exhibit, Huu-ay-aht Chief Councillor Jeff Cook said that he and his fellow students truly appreciated the opportunity to express themselves artistically.
“This was an escape for us. Even for one or two hours a week,” he said.
Cook said it was a very emotional experience when he and the other survivors were reunited with their childhood artwork.
“For me, personally, it was something from my past, something physical, that I had never had the chance to hold onto.”
When children left the school, he explained, they took little more than the clothes they were wearing.
“We never took any of our personal belongings, because they generally threw them away. So it’s a godsend that Mr. Aller saved some of these paintings.”
Dr. Andrea Walsh emphasized that UVic learned and applied the accepted protocols to re-unite the artists with their works, and to acknowledge ownership while at the same time obtaining permission to display the works in an approved manner.
Sometimes it was a matter of learn-as-you-go, she said. In March 2012, the paintings were being displayed at the Victoria meeting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Walsh described how the paintings were being carried into the hall in groups according to individual nations.
“Then a woman came up to me and said, ‘No, no, no. Every child must be carried.’ At that point, a group of women came in, and every one of those paintings was carried in and held up.”
Walsh said after Aller left AIRS, he went on to become a well-known artist, and he always acknowledged that his works were strongly influenced by First Nations forms and imagery. Unlike most residential school teachers, Aller urged his young students to draw from their cultural heritage.
“He completely broke down the rigid structure of the place. He pushed the chairs and tables to the edge of the room and worked on the floor with the kids.”
Aller’s approach put him at odds with the objectives of the school, and in hindsight, could be considered somewhat subversive, Walsh said. The exhibit contains some of the artist’s notebook entries in which he blasts the government’s heavy-handed and ultimately destructive program to “educate” Canada’s indigenous people.
Ahousaht survivor and We Are All One organizer Chuck August said he doesn’t actually remember Aller, and he only recognized his own artwork because it resembled paintings he did before he was sent to the school at seven.
He also consistently refers to Aller as “the art teacher,” and does not use his name. August said he is not sure if blanking out his memory of Aller, name included, was a child’s way of protecting someone who put himself at risk for his students.
“I wish I remembered that art teacher’s name, but apparently a lot of us don’t remember him,” he said.
August said opinion is also divided on whether “the art teacher” knew about the worst abuses that were going on in the school.
“I don’t think he knew what was happening,” he said. “Apparently, he was a really super guy, and he was good with First Nations, but I don’t remember.”
The most searing images in the exhibition were actually created 10 years ago, and at the request of artist Georgina (Cootes) Laing of Uchucklesaht, they are not to be reproduced online.
Laing’s preserved childhood piece has calm, sweeping brushstrokes suggesting moving water and a sense of balance and serenity. The adult pieces are a shocking contrast.
On the upper left, a naked man, in profile, paws an adolescent girl. She is naked from the waist up and wearing a grass skirt. He has horns.
To the right, in extreme close-up, a girl of seven shrieks. An adult hand is wrenching her scalp.
At the bottom, an out-of-control, fortyish blonde woman beats a naked child with a badminton racquet.
“I did these at the treatment centre on Quadra Island. It was art therapy,” Laing said. “It proved to be the exact thing I needed to make myself better.”
Laing said when she walked into the treatment centre she was unable to speak to people, unable even to make eye contact. That changed when she was able to finally express her inner torment through art. And the healing effect has taken hold.
Laing said doing the works was therapeutic, but she has decided to keep them out of the online exhibition because of the potential for misuse.
“I guess there’s a little bit of paranoia left from the residential school, but I don’t want offenders to look at them and get off on it,” she said.
Laing said she believes Aller recognized what the children were being subjected to: a concerted program of physical, emotional, cultural and sexual abuse, and that he did what he could to help his students survive.
“He understood what we were going through, and he allowed us to express ourselves. And he allowed us to have our own mind. That was something we couldn’t do when we were there, to express ourselves.
“That’s what I wanted, that when people look at these paintings they would see what I had to see and to be able to feel it, and not just read about it.”
The three adult images are not symbolic. They are specific. Laing pointed to the girl in the grass skirt and the man she calls “my offender.”
“My offender – he would dress us up in costumes, then molest us.”
The screaming girl on the right committed suicide. The naked girl on the bottom walked in on the angry blonde woman when she had a (prohibited) male visitor in her room, and was stripped and beaten bloody.
Dennis Thomas of Ditidaht said Aller’s art classes were undoubtedly a respite, but his memory is also affected by the daily trauma.
“The only thing I remember is that we had to go to bed at 7 o’clock, but when we started the art classes, we got to stay up an hour later.”
The students lost so much, both physically and emotionally, he said, and that made recovering a positive memento of the school especially significant.
“I didn’t think anyone would preserve any of the paintings. That’s why I was so grateful when we found out UVic had them.”
Thomas added, however, that some of the artists felt differently.
“We tried to contact people that we knew, and our friends at school, but a lot of them didn’t respond,” he said. “Maybe they were too shy or maybe they‘ve had enough of residential school.”
Walsh said when We Are All One wraps up at the museum, the survivors committee will discuss how the exhibit may evolve in the future. There are other museums that would like to bring in the exhibit if it goes out on the road, but any decision could require full consultation with the individual owners of the work.
Walsh said there are pieces that did not appear in the current exhibit that have yet to be matched to an artist or to their family. She advises any survivor with inquiries about artwork from the school to contact her by email at awalsh@uvic.ca.
We Are All One runs to March 7, 2015.
