PAINTINGS AS MEDICINE BUNDLES Simone McLeod, a Medicine painter belonging to Ojibwe Name doodem (Sturgeon clan of the Anishinaabe People) descends from a long line of Midewiwin seers and healers and artists. Simones paintings have a spiritual content that is reminiscent of the spirit powers of the midewiyaanag (medicine bundles) that her Mide ancestors carried - which were living objects, or manidoog in themselves. Made of animal skin, these bags or pouches were usually filled with spirit guardians and sacrificial and healing items, including small pouches of dried herbs and roots whose spiritual and protective properties aided in the curing of ailments. Like the midewiyaan, Simones paintings carry and represent the beliefs and identity of her ancestors, their long migration history, their strength and resilience and healing as a People, as well as their innate kindness, generosity, and faith in a better future. But her paintings, no matter how colorful and positive in nature, also reflect the frustrations of her People, their collective tears and sorrows as she, as a person and an artist, daily faces the grim consequences of hundreds of years of ethnocide and social traumas that to this day threaten Anishinaabe-bimaadiziwin, the Aboriginal Way Of Life. To view Simones paintings go to her website: fisherstarcreations/artists/simone-mcleod -Illustrations: Gakina Awiiya (We Are All Related), acrylic on canvas, 2013 by Simone Mcleod; Mide Sky Man (Medicine Man Carrying An Otter Bag) by Miskwaabik Animikii Norval Morrisseau, 1931-2007)
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 14:25:04 +0000
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