Nokomis
Who is she?
She's an Ojibwa artist and storyteller who grew up in the bush north of Lake Superior eighty years ago.
"In one context my name simply means grandmother. But I was a toddler, not a grandmother when I was given the name by the elders of the turtle clan, so some explanation is in order.
The literal translation of Nokomis means "the great mother" because my namesake was the mother of Manitou's children. . . the spirit who brought forth the Ojibwa into the world.
When the elders gave me the name, they expected me to live up to it. They actually expected me to head out into the world and create the Ojibwa! Sheesh! They didn't say HOW!
It took fifty years before I finally figured out how to be me."
--Nokomis
What she has done
She tell stories about what is was like to grow up as an Ojibwa child living in the bush almost eighty years ago. In her own naive way she illustrate those stories.
She said, "But stories were also used to educate...to make a point, to explain why some behaviors were inappropriate, why it might be best to choose another course of action, and especially to explain the mysteries of the universe.
She thinks, "Canadian native art is the reason why many of those stories are still told. There's always been a great blossoming of artistic and ritualistic activity in response to cultural calamities. It happened three times in the prehistoric Eastern Woodlands cultures and it's happening today as First Nations people face extreme cultural pressures to conform to mainstream mores. The stylized imagery that shows up in the works by many contemporary woodland artists is what sparks conversations about the beliefs and stories that were once fundamental to a way of life that is all but gone. "
