Raven And Moon

The path at MosaiCanada continued into an area of First Nations culture influenced topiaries. This first set was new. Raven And Moon Masks is the title, and it recreates two works of art. On the right is The Raven And The Light, based on the 1992 work of Haida artist Lyle Wilson, a nod to legends in which the raven brought the light of the morning star to humans after stealing it from a spiteful chief who was hoarding it. On the left the topiary recreates The Moon Mask, a 1995 work by Tony Hunt Jr. of the Kwakiutl First Nation. That work relates to the ceremonial telling of the story of the full moon in opposition to the half moon.

Across the path we have another one you might remember from last year. Wisakedjak And The Creation Of The World is based on the Anishinabeg vision of how the world came to be. The creator, Kichi Manito, destroyed what had come before by flood after animals had fallen to fighting amongst themselves. His son Wisakedjak told the surviving animals that one of them would have to dive deep beneath the waters to retrieve a clump of earth so that plants could grow again. The muskrat succeeded in the effort, the earth was placed onto the turtle's back, and the world began again.

Born With The Sun is the title of this topiary. Artist Christine Sioui Wawanoloath was behind this work that concerns itself with the First Nations idea of zoanthropic beings- those combining animal and human traits. That kind of metamorphosis presents itself in the canoe, while birds fly past.

Today I leave off with two perspectives from the other side of Wisakedjak.