Odatagaagominagaawanzhikwe

(Blackberry Bush Woman)

Created by Rowan Hynds

Acrylic, mixed media

I am the blackberry plant

part

thorny invasive space-taker part

nourishment and sun-soaked tongue.

I am the blackberry plant,

All,

strong-rooted armour,

bird-shelter,

arms a blasphemer’s crown -

protective suffering.

Rich pigment berries and

leaves light brown, burning slight-edged

in the heat and sky, I

am the blackberry plant,

branches anchorous and digging down

Proliferous.

And all my anger and my labour

feeds the bees and flying things

that quiet flit around.

Blackberry plant;

many gardener’s gloves have tried

and failed to wrench you from the ground.

Teach me to be eaten - taken from

and grow where I am found.



RowanHYnds.jpg
“For this prompt I wanted to focus on the concept of Indigenous resilience. Too often Indigenous stories are told through a fragmented history of violence and suffering. I want to tell a story about Our strength; illustrate how we can hold all this pain inside us and not just survive, but live, create life, and sustain it”
— Rowan
 
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About the Artist

She/Her, They/Them

Rowan is a Two-Spirited multidisciplinary artist who was born and raised as a guest on Lekwungen-speaking territory, where they still reside today. Their ancestry is Wikwemikong Anishinaabe and Irish, and their clan is wolf clan. Much of Rowan’s work as an artist is an expression of healing: all the messy, ugly, painful, beautiful, celebratory, and restorative parts of it. Through their creative practice, Rowan aims to explore the complicated nature of identity, and above all strives to create that which is honest, genuine, and authentic to their own experiences. Rowan believes that the relationship between artist and audience is one of mutual vulnerability, and that as a result this relationship has an incredible capacity to foster community and encourage solidarity. Her ultimate endeavour is to understand herself, the world around her, and to be understood in return. Whether it’s inks, acrylics, verse or melody, Rowan can be found at their most Human when engaged in some form of story telling.”