Jaime Black facts for kids

Jaime Black is of Anishinaabe and Finnish descent. This Canadian multidisciplinary artist-activist is focused on First Nations and Indigenous representation and identity. She identifies as Métis, an ethnic group native to the three Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) as well as parts of Ontario, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories of Canada and the Northern United States, which traces descent to both Indigenous North Americans and Western European settlers. Black is best known for her art installation The REDress Project that she created as a response to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis in Canada as well as the United States. A 2014 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that more than 1,000 Indigenous women were murdered over the span of 30 years from 1980 to 2012. However, some Indigenous advocacy groups dispute these reports arguing that the number is much greater than the government has acknowledged.

Black centers her creative practice on Indigenous womanhood and the effects of Colonization on Indigenous peoples in North America. Black's art has brought attention to the continued violence against Indigenous women. Her artwork has been featured in many museums across North America and has received recognition from the Canadian government, with a holiday celebrating her work on The REDress project called Red Dress Day.

Early life

Jaime Black was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and later moved to Regina, Saskatchewan. At age 12, Black's family moved to Winnipeg, Canada where she continues to live today. In an interview recorded in 2019, Black describes how “there are very high rates of violence and racism in those communities.” According to Black, she was unaware of the problems due to a lack of discussion about these topics in her early education. As an adult, Black studied English literature at the University of Manitoba, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Native Studies in 2004. Black then earned an education degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in 2008. Following her studies, Black taught at the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas, Manitoba, and developed an art curriculum for the Urban Shaman, an aboriginal artist-run center in Winnipeg.

Career

As an educator, Black developed art curricula for schools while involving herself in local writing groups near her home. Black is also associated with the Mentoring Artists for Women's Art group as a mentor. She continues to work in various capacities for groups that focus on education and Indigenous rights.

Black is widely known for her 2010 creation of the REDress Project, an art installation of empty red dresses hung in public spaces, meant to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). To create a REDress showing, Black collects donated red dresses from local communities which she then later displays in public spaces.

Themes

Black's art grapples with the effects of European colonization on Indigenous peoples in North America. She highlights the themes of death and absence as a result of ongoing colonization as well as its consequences on Indigenous understandings of identity, spirituality, and sovereignty. Additionally, Black's art has a strong political focus making Indigenous peoples not only seen as victims but as presently thriving Indigenous communities.

In 2019, during a talk at the Safety for Our Sisters: Ending Violence Against Native Women Symposium in Washington D.C, Black commented that when people view Indigenous women in red dresses, she wants them to understand that “we are wearing these dresses, and our power is still real. We are going to reclaim it.”

In recent projects, Black places her art within the context of land and water. Black explains this new focus as both a personal desire to reconnect with nature and a larger environmental commentary on the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples to resist corporate and governmental pollution of the lands and resources they use to survive.

Influences

Black's artwork and motivation have been influenced by other Indigenous women. Black cites a presentation by Jo-Ann Episkenew at a conference in Germany as an early influence on her focus on missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

In a 2017 interview with Toronto Life, Black also credited the book cover of Maria Campbell’s The Book of Jessica, which features a single red dress, as a subconscious influence on The REDress Project.

List of Other Artistic Works

2016-2017: Conversations with the Land/We Are the Land

Conversations with the Land/We Are the Land is a series of photographs exploring themes of identity, memory, land, and strength. Black depicts scenes of Indigenous women and nature to express the connection between Indigenous people and the land. This collection has been featured multiple times independently and also shown in connection with The REDress project.

2017: Shards Project

For the Shards project, Black collaborated with the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba where Black and fellow Indigenous artists KC Adams, Lita Fontaine, and Niki Little created a live performance involving Indigenous music and the use of clay to paint each other's bodies and their surroundings. Clay was used to visually demonstrate the close connection to the land Black values.

2020: Reimmersion

In 2020, Black produced a series of photographs showing Indigenous women submerged in water. This series conveys the healing power of water to Indigenous peoples as well as the continued relevance of water to Indigenous sovereignty and security.

Impact

In addition to the political contributions of her work, Black's art and activism have inspired an array of subsequent works by Indigenous artists, bringing further attention to their experiences.

Starting in 2010, May 5 was recognized as Red Dress Day in Canada, where citizens are encouraged to hold grieving ceremonies, display red dresses in public spaces, and wear the color red in solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.