THUNDER BAY - At the heart of any piece of art is a story and sometimes that story can be difficult, traumatic, and have long-lasting impacts. But telling those stories can lend a voice to those who may sometimes feel like no one is listening.
“Any type of art, at its core, is about stories,” said artist Michelle Derosier. “Storytelling and art, from my observation and what I’ve learnt over the years, is healing. You have to actually do it to be able to actually feel it.”
Sexual Assault: The Roadshow, opened in Thunder Bay on Thursday for the first stop as part of its northern tour. Located in Paterson Park on the city’s south side, the large and colourful shipping container full of art exhibits designed to ‘talk back’ against sexual assault will remain in the park until the end of August.
The Roadshow was created by artist and activist, Jane Doe, and has been touring Canadian cities for more than three years and has made 18 stops.
Denise Bolduc, the artistic director of the northern tour, said the travelling gallery is meant to engage the public by starting a conversation about sexual assault.
“Art is a great way to express voices generally,” she said. “It is participatory, it is creative, it gives a voice to a number of people who don’t want to be public with their voice. Art is a medium to be able to discuss all kinds of issues.”
Bolduc added having a large, colourful exhibit located in a public park provides an opportunity for anyone to join the conversation, and because the number of sexual assault cases continues to rise, both nationally and locally, it is an unfortunate reality many people face.
“I have had three or four people come up to me and tell me their story,” Bolduc said. “It is really powerful and really moving. It is great that they feel comfortable enough to come up and say that, because you can’t do that in most places.
“This gives an opportunity to bring strength, joy, resilience, conversation with people who are willing to have that conversation,” Bolduc continued. “It’s an important platform that allows people to feel free to have that conversation.”
Derosier, the award-winning Thunder Bay artist and filmmaker, will be working with a group of Indigenous women this summer to create an original piece of work that will then travel with the exhibit throughout the rest of its northern tour.
“The piece that we are going to be doing will be exploring the relationship between Indigenous women and violence towards Indigenous women and violence towards our land,” she said. “We will be working with birch bark and collectively creating a story with the birch bark that talks back to sexual violence towards Indigenous women.”
Art has a power to connect people to one another, Derosier added, which is why it is so important to have this exhibit available and open to the public – to create art, to start conversations, and to give people a voice.
“We can’t tuck away the issue of violence and sexual assault,” she said. “It goes hand-in-hand with what we are trying to say. We have to have these conversations and we need to make it public. Just because we don’t see sexual assault or we don’t see this container, it doesn’t mean that it’s not here. I think we all know that it’s here.”
For more information on Sexual Assault: The Roadshow, including public viewing hours, visit sexualassaultroadshow.org.
