This Red Dress Day Project is a collaboration between Chepximiya Siyam/Chief Janice George and Granville Island. Chepximiya has used red fabric in a two-dimensional design that evokes missing women, who should, in life, fill all three dimensions of the dress. The installation was done by visual display artist, Kamila Gougain.
Red Dress Day is a day of to honour, raise awareness and educate us about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and Two-Spirit People. The day of acknowledgment was started in 2010 by Indigenous artist Jaime Black to focus on the high, and disproportionate, rates of violence, and number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
The artist felt the colour red represented a calling back of the spirits of these women, allowing them a chance to be among us and have their voices heard through their family members and community. Red also symbolizes “our lifeblood and that connection between all of us, and both vitality and violence” said Jaime Black, in her artist statement.
According to the Assembly of First Nations, Indigenous women are three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence, and the average rate of homicides involving Indigenous female victims was four times higher than that of homicides involving non-Indigenous female victims, demonstrating a complex and pervasive pattern of violence against Indigenous women and girls, who are often targeted because of their gender and Indigenous identity.
We thank Chepximiya for her incredible artistry in interpreting the Red Dress Project for Granville Island.
Chen kwen mantumi
