Red River snow sculptures honour murdered, missing Indigenous women and girls
Winnipeg Métis artist Jaime Black sculpts snowy figures as reminder of rates of violence against women
If you're out skating the river trail in Winnipeg this weekend you may notice snowy figures stretched out across the ice.
Winnipeg Métis artist Jaime Black sculpted the figures as a way to commemorate the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).
"It's a comment on the fact that Indigenous women are facing high rates of violence in Winnipeg — often we're finding women in the river," Black told CBC Up to Speed host Ismaila Alfa on Friday.
"It's just a way for us to kind of remember them and to honour them and say, 'I hope we get together as a community and talk about ways that we can create a safer space for indigenous women and girls.'"
Black said she has been sitting on the idea for about three years and the warm conditions Thursday were enough to draw her to outside and build.
The six or so live-size figures were sculpted so as to make them appear lying down atop the frozen river surface. They can be found about 100 metres past where the trail ends on the Red River not far from St. Boniface Hospital.
She drew inspiration from another one of her own outdoor community art displays, the REDress Project, which slung red dresses from trees in cities across Canada in honour of MMIWG.
It was an individual effort this time but Black said she hopes to invite others out to help co-create 40 or more sculptures in the future.
