A Mississaga Street café has added art to its eclectic menu thanks to a large mural created by the local Indigenous art collective, Windigo Army.
Titled Dance Like Your Ancestors are Watching, the painting — on the side of Eclectic Café — features five Indigenous children dancing with a Haudenosaunee Smoke Dancer.
While the smoke dancer had already been painted as its own piece of art, café co-owner Melanie Robinson said the children were added to the painting earlier this spring.
“I’m a big supporter of anything Indigenous regarding reconciliation and bringing a positive light on things, and I think it’s such a beautiful showcase,” Robinson told OrilliaMatters.
“After (Windigo Army) had done the one image, I had seen the children and I had said I think that would be a really awesome addition to put under the bottom, is that they’re looking up to her, to their future.”
Robinson feels the art showcases a hopeful outlook at a time when unmarked Indigenous graves are being uncovered at former residential school sites across Canada.
“I think it’s just a poignant topic right now with regards to the last year and seeing all the gravesites coming up, a strong focus on murdered and missing Indigenous women, and it’s just bringing a positive light to a negative situation,” she said. “We are all on Indigenous land, and I think we need to recognize that and make that a part of our history and our culture.”
In a statement to OrilliaMatters, the Windigo Army said the art is meant to honour ancestors and speak to the importance of revitalizing Indigenous cultures.
"To many indigenous cultures of Turtle Island these dances are considered a spiritual/religious experience and a way to honour one's ancestors," they said. "Though the children depicted are likely too young to understand the cultural significance, and many of our traditional dances have been lost to the cultural genocide of our people, this painting speaks to how the artist believes that the revival of our culture is possible through sheer will and determination of the current and next generations, and that our ancestors will give us strength and understanding as long as we continue to try."
The Windigo Army said its art at Eclectic Cafe reflects 'public' art that has been created by ancestral Indigenous peoples in the past.
"Our ancestral rock paintings and sculptures can still be found all throughout the land, each telling a specific story," they said. "In a sense, we feel it our responsibility to uphold these longstanding traditions, to create works of art that inspire and inform current and future generations."
"By supporting and creating opportunities for Indigenous artists to make public works of art, you are directly helping not only the artists reconnect to their culture in a meaningful way, but also every Indigenous person who will have the opportunity to connect with that piece of artwork."
Catherine Phillips, a member of the city’s Art in Public Places committee, says the art “spoke to the moment.”
The committee granted Robinson and the Windigo Army permission to display the art on the side of popular downtown eatery.
“I think public art has an opportunity to be one avenue for well-being and one avenue for social justice and to contribute to those kinds of conversations and discussions,” Phillips said.
“I think the intention of most urban art in public places is to produce well-being within a community, and that includes everybody.”
