This audio series will tell the story of a family living through two pandemics, a century apart
Buried in my DNA looks at how the 1918 pandemic impacted Patti Flather’s family — and how they live today
Yukon artist Patti Flather is working on an audio series about how her family survived two pandemics. The first, in 1918, killed her great-uncle. The grief sent her great-grandmother out of Europe and to the interior of British Columbia.
The second, of course, is this year's COVID-19 outbreak. When the pandemic hit, Flather was living with her family in Yukon and about to become a grandmother.
"Bringing the next generation into our world, helping to raise this new human — the responsibility around that feels monumental," says Flather. "I had a sense of anticipation, but also questions and fears. What kind of world is this baby coming into? It's a world [that was] facing many challenges before the pandemic. What work do I need to do?"
For Flather, the pandemic highlighted a lot of inequities.
"I feel a heightened sense of responsibility as a grandmother now, as well as a citizen and artist," says Flather. "Many of us are looking back to old lives, perhaps with nostalgia, perhaps not, and forward into an uncertain future. Many of us feel off-kilter, and it's OK to admit that. I think there can be comfort in knowing you're not alone in this. We have each other. We all have stories, and we need them now, more than ever."
To share hers, Flather is creating Buried in my DNA: The Transmigration Cycles.
She's working with Calgary dramaturg Vicki Stroich on the project, and when it's done, she plans to release it on social media.
"This project is much more about me personally: my family, my settler history and how it connects with how we, as Canadians, view ourselves — and about how I dream of us going forward in a better way that's more respectful, inclusive, gentler on the environment," says Flather.
À lire en français sur le site de Radio-Canada.
This story is part of Digital Originals, an initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts. Artists were offered a $5,000 micro-grant to either adapt their existing work or create new work for the digital world during the COVID-19 pandemic. CBC Arts has partnered with Canada Council to feature a selection of these projects. You can see more of these projects here.
