“I love creating pieces of art, it gives me an outlet to express myself and I love learning and working on pieces to honour my culture,” said Ladd, who continued, “Through the mural, I wanted to show that our love and respect for Mother Earth, Turtle Island, is necessary to ensure that we have a world for future generations.”
About the Mural
The mural’s imagery shows that everything is connected to the sun, moon, stars, nature, and water, which need to work in harmony to provide a good life for all. An Indigenous woman (protector) is wearing a traditional ribbon shirt and is connected to the sun (giizis) which gives life. Women represent the wisdom and strength required to help get back to a balanced Mother Earth.
Lake Huron once provided bountiful white fish that sustained life. Water is life and respect is needed to ensure clean waters for all living things.
The sun is connected to the stars, to the moon (dibiki-giizis) and to the water (nibi). The hearts represent that to have love, there must be balance and harmony in order to offer love to others. Love is one of the grandfather teachings. The flowers represent nature and all the medicines received from a healthy environment.
The mural was commissioned by the Museum, which specifically sought out an Indigenous artist for the project to build on the Museum’s goal of providing space to share local Indigenous culture.
“Indigenous people have called this land home for millennia and the Huron County Museum is focused on growing our understanding of local Indigenous cultures and histories by providing space to share their stories,” said Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol Senior Curator Elizabeth French-Gibson.
To celebrate the mural, prints of Ladd’s art are available for purchase in the Museum gift shop, along with the children’s book and colouring book Memengwaa: The Monarch Butterfly, which were illustrated by Ladd and written by her mother Dorothy Ladd.