Re: Red dress exhibit outside Nelson City Hall calls for justice for Indigenous women and girls, March 4
Can there be truth after reconciliation? Whose truth matters when all are dead and gone? The floating red dresses in front of Nelson City Hall twist, strain and shout silently in the wind circling the erect obelisk to dead soldiers from Boer War, First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War.
In stark contrast, the specters of dead sisters are nameless. The hanged scarlet garments encircle the long list of mostly male names honoured for the life they sacrificed for freedom. “Whose freedom?” say the restless dresses that speak to the thousands of murdered and missing women and children dead in Canada’s war on rights and freedoms. Where is the memorial with their families’ names to reclaim a truth about justice in Canada?
Thank you, Jaime Black for REDress, and Touchstone and City of Nelson for recognizing the importance of this project installation in a public, “free” space to view and stimulate conversations of meaning.
Anita Melin
Procter