#HuntingByStars
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dragonabsurdum.bsky.social
My "creative response" to #TheMarrowThieves by #CherieDimaline. Excellent novel. I highly recommend both it and it's sequel, #HuntingByStars. Composed from 45 separate images and some digital painting.
#art #DigitalArt #collage #books #indigenous #literature
Digital collage. Creative response to 'The Marrow Thieves' by Cherie Dimaline. The collage depicts French & Rose alongside the brook they discovered in the 'On the Road' section. French drops to his knees and clutches Rose for support as he laughs and cries. French was carrying Rose’s pack, which now sits beside him with Minerva’s star blanket. The clouds above invoke the pervasive spectre of school children being ground up with their “bone mush and sticky sap” which forms the pervasive rain. This blood (from the destroyed remains of Indigenous kin) rains down on the ground, only to eventually gather and transform into the brook. This rain also makes the surrounding hills look like they're bleeding. The meadow is a dull brown wasteland, reflecting the state of the world & French’s mental state. Despite this, life springs up around the brook. Over Rose’s shoulder, trees grow downward toward the brook “like pious monks”, another reminder of the residential schools threatening them. The brook is thin & brown, bleeding from the surrounding hills. It “carrie[s] itself with quiet grace,” feeding plants with roots “dangling under the cool surface like old ladies dipping vein-bruised legs into a pool.” Two fish in the brook to represent vitality and communion. Plants growing along the bank are native edibles (lambsquarters, rhubarb, fiddleheads, dandelion, plantain, wild strawberry, raspberry, curly dock, garlic mustard, miner’s lettuce). The edibles both reference Indigenous teachings & medicines, & the consumption of Indigenous people in the novel. The oppressive darkness, deadened landscape, & spectral images of residential school abattoirs in the clouds above collectively evoke the terrors of their present reality. Despite this, a warm light finds them, hinting at healing, triumphs & reunions the future may hold. The shallow brook at their feet that separates darkness from light & destruction from regeneration suggesting upcoming transitions.
December 17, 2024 at 10:18 AM