Reconciliation Series Tour

The reconciliation series is a series of 12 paintings, painted by artist Bronwyn Celeste. The fundraiser is for the purpose of taking the series on the road to raise awareness of the history and the harms of the Indian residential schools across North America. The goal is to open an avenue of healing and truth – just one more step towards true reconciliation. To learn more about her Bronwyn’s journey painting this series, please see below.

Here is a little explanation about what she's been up to with the Reconciliation project.

First, a bit of background. Bronwyn was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick (Atlantic Canada) and moved to England when she graduated high school in 2012. She always had a gift for the arts and was placed in special programs from elementary through to high school which allowed her to develop as an artist, actress and musician. After graduating high school, there were 7 years without doing much art at all. Meanwhile, she worked in the marketplace, hospitality and in customer service and attended university. In 2018, she picked up a paintbrush to create a painting for the empty wall in her living room apartment. This inspired her to do an entire show, and within 3 months she had completed her first-ever exhibition.

She has used her art to promote justice and healing for sexual abuse survivors. Being a survivor herself, she has had the opportunity to speak into other women’s lives who have gone through the same thing. One particular art series led her to develop a line of sports leggings with her painting designs on them. The 3-part series titled “Bold,” “Brave,” and “Beautiful” was prototyped onto leggings three years ago (see leggings here (https://www.bronwynceleste.com/apparel)). This collection is designed to remind survivors of who they are, while wearing the garment and keeping the title in mind. Having won two business competition awards, Bronwyn realized this initiative provided a way for many to express themselves as well as support others.

This led to a revelation that art can convey powerful messages crossing language and cultural barriers. Bronwyn's art reaches a part of the soul that words cannot.

She graduated from the University of Brighton, England with a degree in International Event Management during the peak of the pandemic. A few months after finishing school, she flew back home to New Brunswick. While there, word of the 215 children’s remains that were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential school became public knowledge. Heartbroken, she felt compelled to paint a piece to honour the children found in the spring of 2021. This piece, titled "Reconciliation," is painted in the 4 colours that represent healing for the First Nations peoples. "Reconciliation" has 215 brushstrokes…one for each child (view photo here (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224335630432675&set=pb.1061918287.-2207520000.) ). That summer, Bronwyn felt prompted to fly out to British Colombia with this painting. It was the start of a series that would lead her to travel thousands of miles to paint on the very sites of these mass graves – most of which no one other than the locals knew about. To date, a number of these former schools have been in the news (see here (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-residential-schools-unmarked-graves-indigenous-children-60-minutes-2023-02-12/) ). The discovery of mass graves around the properties of these schools has led to a national call to continue searching for the unaccounted, missing children that never returned from these establishments. Canada had a total of 139 schools, and the United States had 408. To date, roughly a quarter of the Canadian residential schools have been searched, and the findings of the children's bodies are in the thousands. There is a deep cry to find the children who have been lost to their families for generations, and it spans across North America.

By the end of 2021, Bronwyn completed the Reconciliation series with a total of 12 paintings. They have since been in storage, waiting to be shown and for the right time to talk about them. Now is that time.

This is the beginning of part two of this project – having the paintings seen by people who may have never heard of what went on in these horrific schools. She has been moved into action by a burden on her heart for the people whose stories have not been heard.

She will be driving 3000km (1865 miles) down to Texas with these paintings from Canada, and you can follow along on her journey *here (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1650790365354890) *. They will be making their way across Southern US and then returning to Canada to be displayed. From there, they will be shown across the UK to bring awareness overseas, where many staff of the residential schools originated from.

By providing your support you will be helping Bronwyn to raise awareness of the lost children of the residential schools as she travels across North America with this series. The goal of this collection is to open an avenue of healing and truth, just one more step toward true reconciliation. We all have a part to play in this pivotal moment in North America's history. We hope this will in turn help to generate action at all sites of former residential schools.

From the artist:

I appreciate you all, thank you for taking the time to read and provide your support on my behalf. Blessings to you all,

Bronwyn