Reconciliation with an Indigenous Elder and a Euro-Western settler through co-created art and conversation

Many Indigenous peoples, cultures and communities across the globe have experienced some form of colonization or genocide that caused adverse effects. Often the relationship among colonizer and Indigenous people have been tarnished and plagued with pain. As a non-Indigenous middle school teacher who teaches Indigenous students and who has taught First Nations Studies, it was necessary to build my knowledge of Indigenous ways of knowing. A third of the students at the school I teach are identified as Indigenous, therefore I had to change my implicit ignorance. In this study, I, a Euro-western settler teacher artist, collaborated with, Qwaya Sam, an Indigenous Elder artist and cultural leader, to co-create art and share conversation. During our time together, we discussed many topics surrounding Indigenous ways of knowing and Euro-western ways of knowing. Most of the time we met in my art studio, sharing openly and honestly with each other. We developed a relationship while advancing our understanding of reconciliation through co-creating art and conversation. This project led to an Indigenous-settler approach of cultural reconciliation through the (1) co-creation of artwork, (2) sharing of recorded conversations, and (3) co-analysis of the artwork together through analytical memos. This approach may be used for those who seek to develop rich and meaningful relationships across different cultures. Ultimately, both members benefited in unique ways through the process of reciprocal learning.