Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy explores a powerful art installation created by master carver Carey Newman. The Witness Blanket bears witness to the truths of residential school Survivors to foster understanding among Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people. We invite you to bear witness, and to follow the Museum’s efforts to conserve this significant work for generations to come.
Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy (Level 1 Gallery)
April 30, 2021 to January 16, 2022
Tags for Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy
Photo: CMHR, Jessica Sigurdson
Exhibition details
The Witness Blanket was created to honour the children who were forced into the Indian residential school system in Canada. It takes the form of a cedar “blanket,” and includes over 800 pieces of Indian residential school history.
These contributions were donated by residential school Survivors and their families, band offices, and friendship centres. Many items were reclaimed from former residential school sites. The contributions include letters, photos, stories, books, clothing, art and fragments of buildings. Those responsible for the school system – churches and the Canadian federal government – have also donated pieces for this installation.
Following several years of travel and exhibition across Canada, The Witness Blanket requires detailed conservation work to preserve its many and varied components and to stabilize it for display.
This exhibition invites visitors to explore the impacts of common conservation challenges, learn about technical aspects of conservation work and witness this important aspect of the Museum’s responsibility to care for the Witness Blanket. This work is conducted in collaboration with the artist and his team and honours the perspectives, skills and experience of Indigenous people. It also represents a commitment to reconciliation through action.
The Witness Blanket
The Witness Blanket was created to honour the children who were forced into the Indian residential school system in Canada. It takes the form of a cedar “blanket,” and includes over 800 pieces of Indian residential school history.
Photo: CMHR, Jessica Sigurdson
In March 2020, conservators from the Canadian Conservation Institute inspected theWitness Blanket,provided a detailed condition report and proposed a treatment plan. Conservation involves assessing the condition of the work, and then performing a range of culturally informed and scientifically appropriate treatments to preserve it.
Photo: CMHR, Jessica SigurdsonSlideshow controls
Discover the stories of survival woven into the Witness Blanket and learn about the careful conservation work that will enable it to carry the stories of residential school Survivors forward to future generations.
Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy runs in the Level 1 gallery, starting in April 2021. This exhibition is being presented along with Artivism, an exhibition exploring artistic expression as a powerful response to large‐scale violations of human rights. It features the work of six artists and art collectives whose work takes an activist approach to expose, denounce and prevent mass atrocities.
See more at the museum
Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy is generously supported by:
The Witness Blanket team wishes to acknowledge the support of:
- Residential school Survivors, who through the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement provided the funding for this project
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
- Rina M Bidin Foundation
- Media One
- Victoria Native Friendship Centre
- Acumen Communications
- Canadian Conservation Institute
- Camosun College
To find out more about the Witness Blanket, visit witnessblanket.ca to explore it in detail and to watch a full-length documentary about its creation.
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Picking up the Pieces
Launched at the Museum in November 2019, this beautiful book tells the story of the making of the Witness Blanket.
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