AmiskwacÎw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin
PROJECT OVERVIEW
AmiskwacÎw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin is immersive wayfinding that celebrates Edmonton’s people, history, landscape, and wildlife. Walkers are led from park to park by a flock of Bohemian wax-wing birds. 150 copper silhouettes capture the birds in all stages of flight and are decorated with storytelling patterns created in community workshops facilitated by Métis artist Destiny Swiderski. Knowledge holders and Elders supported the artist throughout. Flight studies inform ten different shapes featuring the wax-wing from takeoff to mid-flight and beyond. This procession is further accentuated by an aerosol painting depicting the edge of the boreal forest – Edmonton’s natural context and the landscape that is true to “this place”. AmiskwacÎw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin is immersive wayfinding placing Cree–the Indigenous language of the Edmonton area–in the heart of downtown. The syllabics and translation express the Indigenous roots of this special place; a place to gather and share stories about the past, present, and future.
PROJECT LOCATION
PROJECT TEAM
City of Edmonton
Edmonton Arts Council