215

 

215

24” x 24”

Photograph Collage w Digital Imaging

London, Ontario

2024

Jim Kogelheide

 

It was nearing the end of May, 2020… amidst all the chaos of global lockdowns due to the pandemic… when another news story spread like wildfire throughout Canada and the rest of the world…

Over the next year, story after story appeared in the media as more and more residential schools were searched… and more bodies were found!  Our nation was being served a serious blow created by previous generations’ malfeasance.  The First Nation’s communities was reeling in pain and sorrow as these horrors unfolded.  We all felt powerless to do anything during this time as the pandemic continued to affect the lives of everyone from around the world.

 

Nearing the end of 2020, vaccines had been developed and manufacturing of them began.  In the spring of 2021, most people were protected and gatherings began to take place… but with many rules that were designed to ensure the public’s safety.  First Nation’s groups from across Canada began organizing community events and marches to further raise awareness about the horrors that many endured in residential schools.  I thought it was fitting that these events were going to be taking place on July 1^st… Canada Day!  My family attended the event and these are a few of the photos that I took…

As you can see, most people were wearing masks and we were keeping lots of space between ourselves so that we were protected from spreading/getting the coronavirus.  You can also see that thousands of people attended!  It had been a while since I have seen so many people all gathered together for one purpose.  It was an inspiring event!!

 

There were speeches, jingle dancing… and then the walk began.  A route had been preselected from Victoria Park northward to Oxford St., west to Wharcliffe Road, south to Queen St. before reassembling in Victoria Park.

When we reached Oxford St. we filled the area, leaving a circle in the middle of the intersection.  A ceremony that included drumming, dancing, smudging and lots of orange smoke took place…

It was an amazing experience to be a part of!

 

The next summer, another ‘Turtle Island Healing March’ took place and my family attended again.  This time, we took a different route and another intersection was used for a ceremony…

A month or so later, an idea popped into my head.  Since I had so many photos from these two events, I thought about how I could use them to bring more awareness to this issue.  I started by gathering all of my photos together and I saw that, although I had a lot, I didn’t have enough to do what I was thinking about doing… so I went searching.  I found many other photos from the London walks and I found photos from other cities across Canada where other events had taken place.

 

My idea was simple… I was going to create a collage using all of these photos to create a background texture for my art.  I wanted them in black and white, so I began manipulating them using different filters on my computer.  I was then going to add a child’s orange handprint onto these photos to complete the art… as this symbol is used in many ‘Every Child Matters’ t-shirts, bookmarks and posters.

 

I wanted the end result to be an image that I could put onto a stretched canvas and I figured that a 24” x 24” image would be a good size.  I knew that my home computer would not be able to handle an image file of this size, so I knew that I would need to enlist some help when it came to creating the final image. 

 

What I was able to do on my own, was create smaller groupings of photos for the larger collage… so this is how I got started.  I took notes of the sizes of what I began calling my ‘blocks’ as I slowly created this mosaic.  Here’s a few examples… 

I did not want my background to be a perfect grid collection of photos all being the same size and shape, so I created my blocks in many different rectangular sizes and shapes.  I labeled each image file and took note of their sizes as I slowly pieced together this collage.  By doing this, I would be making this mosaic even more interesting to look at.

 

One final touch was the placement of three additional images that I stole off the internet…

I found three very old photographs taken with nuns, priests and students at different residential schools.  First… I turned them all upside down to show distaste and repugnance for what had happened at these schools.  Then… I placed them on the mosaic to create a triangle.

This is a pretty decent estimate about where the images are placed in the mosaic of photographs.  Triangles are interesting shapes and because they have three sides and three is a magical number, I only used three photos.  The triangle also represents harmony and transcendence… it’s a sacred geometric shape that holds deep spiritual meaning and can be seen as a gateway to knowledge and enlightenment.  Since this artwork is all about people becoming more aware of the atrocities that happened in our history as we work towards creating a more just future for our First Nation’s people, it is fitting that I incorporated this component into my design.

 

I would guess that I spent around 5 months working on this part of the project.

 

When I had all of my blocks finished, I began looking for someone who had a better computer, who could put all 17 of these blocks together, as I had laid them out.  The first person who attempted this had some difficulty doing this… plus they moved away during this process.  I got rather busy with other things and this project stayed on hold for many months.

 

Many months later, I contacted another person who I thought could help out… but that effort failed, as well.  I got busy again… I’m always so busy… and this project was put on hold again.

 

About two months ago, I said to myself, “OK! Enough is enough! Let’s get this artwork done!”  This time I called a professional design company that I had hired for previous jobs for my wife’s business.  Signature Graphics had created her logo and signs for her store. 

They did a great job for my wife, so I knew they would be able to help me.  I knew that hiring a professional company would cost me more money than hiring a friend… but I figured that it wouldn’t be that expensive and that I could afford it.

 

I made a phone call… set up an appointment to discuss the work… and within a week I was looking at the first proof wanting approval.

 

I did not give approval!

 

I did like what they had done for me… but something about the image was bugging me.  It was the transparent child’s orange handprint.  They had placed it on the image to my specifications… but when I saw it, I didn’t like it.  Later that evening… after I had relaxed with a few beers while enjoying a bonfire in my garden, a solution came to my mind…

 

The handprint just needed to be larger!  I thought that if the handprint was made larger than the 24” x 24” mosaic, that it would wrap around onto the edges of the finished canvas and add more interest to the overall layout of the art.

 

I rarely do this… but I asked my Facebook friends for their opinion on this idea.  I even created an image showing the first proof beside the idea that I had in mind…

I was technologically challenged (Haha!) so this was the best that I could do.  I was simply trying to get an idea across, so it didn’t bother me that I was using a purple handprint to represent my new idea.

 

The feedback that I got from this post was unanimously in favour of the larger handprint!!!  This made me feel great!  A friend of mine, who I met at an Earthday event many years ago and have kept in touch with ever since, had this to say about my idea…

 

“Jim, I like that the hand, which to me represents the missing children, is greater than the images because although we may march (large numbers), fewer people engage in acts of true reconciliation.  Our government policies are lagging far behind the need.  So the child hand, larger than life, brings that out, that these children and their needs are far greater than these actions.  The hand reminds us that they are the focus, not the people in the images AND the lost children are absent in these photos”

 

I told Celine that her words described what I was trying to portray with the larger hand more clearly than what I could ever say.  For me, it was an idea I wanted to explore… I hadn’t actually gotten to the stage where I could express the ‘Why’ I felt compelled to make this change.  Thanks, Celine, for explaining my actions to me!

 

It only took about half an hour for Nick to make this change and soon I was approving the final proof that they emailed to me.  Immediately, I asked for a quote… to have the image transferred onto a canvas… and once I got that, I ordered my art to be manufactured.

 

Yesterday, I got an email saying that my art was ready for pickup… so when Devon got home from school, we drove over, right away, to get it! Or… I should say ‘get them’… I had actually ordered two different sizes!

This is the one that is now hanging on a wall in my living room!  It’s been hanging there for less than a day… and I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at it! I love it!  It makes me happy to see it… and think about all the work that went into creating it.

 

The second stretched canvas that I had made measures 12” x 12” and I had it especially made to this size so that I could enter it into this year’s Square Foot Art Show at the Westland Gallery in the Wortley Village.  Sadly, I learned about an hour ago, that no digitally created images are allowed into the show.  They have changed this rule, I’m guessing, because AI art is everywhere these days, and they want the focus of their art show to be hand created art.  I can appreciate this change in the rules… but I was a little disappointed to not be able to get involved in this year’s show.

 

So… the 12” x 12” canvas is for sale! Maybe I can cover some of the expense that I’ve invested into this project!  If anyone is interested in purchasing this art from me… email me at citizenjimkogelheide@gmail.com and let me know.  For a low price of $300 I will mail this art to anywhere in the world!

 

This story isn’t over yet…

 

Right from the beginning, I had a plan for the digital image that I used to create this art.  Over the last few years, I have collected a few contacts who I will be reaching out to over the next few weeks.  I want to donate my art to a local First Nation’s organization for them to use in their fundraising efforts.  I think this design would look nice on a t-shirt, as well as a poster or other stretched canvases.  I’d like to see this artwork being used to help support a local group who can then use their profits to help fund the activities that they put together in the community!

 

So… I hope that I’ll be able to do this soon… and I may have a small update to share with you, if this becomes a reality!  Wish me luck!!

 

Jim Kogelheide