Right to Repossess Public Art Project

Artist Statement

Since the summer of 2020, at least eighteen public statues of historic figures across Canada have been removed by public officials or toppled by protestors. The statues depict figures such as John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson, Queen Victoria, and Captain Cook. Several other statues and memorials have been the subject of ongoing protests with calls for their removal. 

Through "Right To Repossess" will hope to explore the concepts around safety, public space, and the dominance nature has over all civilizations and history. We hope that one of the secondary themes people will take away from this piece will focus on how the statues are part of a national reckoning concerning the impact and legacy of colonialism on Indigenous communities, and how that work is intrinsically linked to the journey of reconciliation. 

“Right to Repossess”
by Bawaadan Collective

Through “Right to Repossess”, we hope to remind all Canadians of the importance of prioritizing the health of the land and waters in all that we do. Our treaty agreements spoke to the Natural Law that dominated Indigenous worldviews and by accepting those agreements, Canadians too must uphold the same responsibilities to the Earth. 

Land holds true governance over all of us and in time, holds each of us accountable for our actions. 

The “Right to Repossess” sculpture is made out of several varieties of willow, white cedar, eastern white pine, shag bark hickory, a cedar post, corn husk, wood, clay, material, ribbon, and other organic materials. 

The project would not have been possible without the invaluable contributions of our collaborators and the generous donations of materials. 

Details

Location: West Harbour Branch, Hamilton Public Library, 77 Harbourside Way, Hamilton, ON

Right to Repossess will relocate to Gage Park, on November 18, 2027, and will remain there for one year.

Bawaadan Collective is an Indigenous-owned and Indigenous-created media collective, bringing together Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Cree, Oji-Cree, and Māori artists and accomplices in collaborative contemporary storytelling through film and media production. 

The collective's work spans documentary, experimental, and narrative forms — from contemplative pieces exploring place, memory, and time through archival photography and contemporary footage, to video series spotlighting BIPOC artists' lived experiences in their local creative communities. While this is their first foray into public art, they have been working with the themes explored in this temporary installation for the past 5 years. Beginning with video works produced as part of their two-year web series. They've explored the concepts of colonial figures and their persistence in the narrative of Canada. In recent years working on the CBC documentary the Passionate Eye - Inside the Statue Wars, hearing voices across the entire nation who question the relevance of placing large colonial figures in spaces meant for all Canadians.