The Artist’s Work
Annie Pootoogook was an Inuk artist. She was known for her pen and coloured pencil drawing that portrayed her community of Cape Dorset. She came from a long line of artists who have created important work, including Annie herself.
Her body was found in the Rideau River in 2016. Her death remains unsolved. She was only 47 years old.
Artists, musicians and writers are drawing more attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. They are reflecting these truths through their art while exploring what it means to them to see the disappearance of our sisters continue.
Kristi Lane Sinclair is billed as a grunge-folk singer-songwriter. Her music is usually driven with heavy guitars and drums. But in 2017, she took a departure with the moody Dark Matter, in particular the song “Woman.”
Sinclair wrote “Woman” as a call to action for the love and protection of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. But she says the song kind of got lost in the shuffle of her album.
“When I was approached by the Vancouver cantata singers to create a chorale piece, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I converted the rock song into chorale. The multiple voices really spoke to the meaning,” said Sinclair.
She recently worked with Cree composer Andrew Balfour who is also the artistic director of Camerata Nova, a Winnipeg vocal group that often sings in a capella. Sinclair changed the song from a rock song to a hauntingly beautiful chorale music piece. It was performed at Winnipeg’s New Music Festival in January 2020.
“It’s just the main vocal line of the song. My mentor Peter Hannan helped me as I hadn’t written notes to a page since I went to music school. It came back quickly,” said Sinclair.
She is glad this song has taken on a new direction.
“Working with Andrew Balfour and the Camerata Choir gave further voice to the message; one I’m always hoping to bring light to.”
Sharing the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is important work. The team that brought you Taken worked hard to care for the women’s and their families’ stories. They have done their best to provide a platform to help shed light and perhaps bring new clues to their murders or disappearances. Some of these stories have been turned into a 10-part podcast series. We hope you will listen and share them with your networks, in the hope some of these crimes will be solved.
Kim Wheeler is a writer and publicist. She is the original writer/researcher for Taken. Her daughter, Katarina Ziervogel, is walking in her mom’s footsteps. Katarina also worked on Taken as a writer and social media producer. Kim is holding the doors open for her daughters to walk through.