Sketching As A Mediation

Tomorrow, December 6, is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women here in Canada. It is commemorated on the anniversary of the 1989 The École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, Quebec

The vigil at Minto Park takes place at a monument known as "The Enclave" and that monument (and two other Ottawa monuments) is the subject of this post.

The Enclave, Minto Park, Ottawa

On December 6th all of the flags on Federal buildings (and many provincial and municipal buildings) are lowered to half mast and women in cities from coast to coast to coast organize vigils like the ones that I have attended in Minto Park since I moved to Ottawa in 2002.

"The Enclave" monument was created by two feminist artists c.j. fleury and Mary Faught (her twitter) and I have sat in the park on the nearby benches and thought about the monument, and sketched it a lot over the years.

I think about how the monument is located midway between the police station and the courthouse on Elgin Street - "the two institutions that were failing to protect women" and I think about the National Tribute to Human Rights monument further down the street that cost $350,000.00 and this monument that cost $10,000.

I think about how the artists wanted rocks "with hips" (left natural, not smooth and shiny like most monuments) and I think about how the Women's Urgent Action committee stopped adding new stones with the names of local women who were murdered after the year 2000 when they had to remove the stone with Sandra Campbell's name (at defense lawyer Michael Neville's request).

Sketching As A Meditation

I walk around Ottawa every single day with my Yellow Labrador Retriever Lexington ("Lexie" for short) and

• as an artist, I am always looking for interesting subject matter; 
• as a genealogist, I am always curious about history; 
• as a naturalist, I am always paying attention to the flora and fauna; and 
• as someone who worked my whole life for social justice, I'm interested in the human stories behind the public art, monuments and memorials and the artists who created them 

Sometimes I sketch and then go home and research. Sometimes I research and go back to sketch. Either way, the sketching connects me to my subject in a much deeper way.

"Lost Child" by David Ruben Piqtoukun

When I sketched "Lost Child" last June, I wrote "Lost Boy" on the sketch which was perhaps a Freudian slip of sorts because every time I walk by it, I picture artist David Ruben Piqtoukun as a small boy from Paulatuk, Northwest Territories arriving in Edmonton, Alberta.

This assemblage of stones recalls the artist’s childhood experience and feelings of alienation when arriving in an urban environment.

The artist intended this space to be a "gathering site that provides a place of respite and contemplation" which it often is for Lexie and me on our daily walks.

The National Tribute to Human Rights

The National Tribute to Human Rights is another monument that Lexie and I love to visit, walk through and meditate about and I have attended many, many vigils at this site over the years.

Melvin Charney (1935-2012) was selected to design this monument and people either love it or hate it. I personally love it especially when the leaves are off the trees and I can walk through it with Lexie and see the National War Memorial which was Melvin's intention: that we imagine the War Memorial and the Human Rights Monument having a conversation about peace.

I also imagine the time that the Dalai Lama was standing there at its' unveiling and when Nelson Mandela was also standing at the NTHR unveiling a plaque on September 24, 1998, marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 Monuments and Memorials In Ottawa

These three monuments that I have sketched and the artists who created them inspire me through every season. The Enclave was covered in leaves just a few weeks ago. For the vigil tomorrow it will be covered in snow ....

No matter when I visit "The Encalve", I think about all the women and girls who were/are victims of men's violence, the artists who created this space to honour them and I hope and pray for a world where men's violence against women and girls does not exist.

Special Thanks To Tonya Davidson

N.B. I am eternally grateful for the work of Tonya Davidson especially "Narratives of National Belonging at Ottawa Monuments: The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights and Enclave: The Women’s Monument " and her thesis "Stone Bodies In The City: Unmapping Monuments, Memory and Belonging in Ottawa" (Tonya's 2012 thesis; 311 pp) for making my walks around the City of Ottawa with Lexie so much more interesting and for inspiring me to make many sketches and meditate on the art and monuments around me.

 Taking Action

December 6 is both a day of remembrance and a day for action. I recommend reading the MacLeans article by Anne Kingston quoting Elizabeth Sheehy: 

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/lets-finally-call-violence-against-women-what-it-really-is/

Take action by speaking plainly and actively.

Call it “men’s violence against women.”

Call it “intimate violence.”

Call it “misogyny-fuelled terrorism.”

Speak of it in the active voice