Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative

Co-presented by
Pattison Onestop (www.onestopmedia.com and www.artintransit.ca)
Amnesty International Canada

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative was produced by imagineNATIVE with funding from Canada Council for the Arts

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) an artistic commission and national exhibition of four, one-minute digital works by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers celebrating and honouring Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society.

SSDI, produced by imagineNATIVE, is co-presented by Amnesty International Canada and Pattison Onestop, a leader in public display advertising and creative content presentations. This innovative digital artistic project is the first time the Festival has partnered to present a simultaneous national exhibition. SSDI will be exhibited throughout Toronto’s subway system on more than 300 Pattison Onestop digital subway platform screens, on 254 digital monitors in 33 English language shopping centre display screens across Canada (see locations below), at the Calgary International Airport, and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 15 – 21, 2012.

The SSDI project started as a call by imagineNATIVE and its partners to Canada’s Aboriginal artistic community to conceive of a one-minute video piece creatively reflecting and responding to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the over 500 official (and arguably more) unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. Four works by award-winning artists from different regions of Canada were selected through a juried process.

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative will screen as a part of the Alternative New Media on Screen program during imagineNATIVE on Saturday, October 20, 10:30am.

The four commissioned works are: 

YOUR COURAGE WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED
Artist: Angela Sterritt (Gitxsan/Lax Gibu)

An animation of empowered, Indigenous life-givers sharing dreams, strength and knowledge illustrating that Aboriginal women deserve honour and to live in an equitable world.

SNARE
Artist: Lisa Jackson (Anishinaabe) Spare and visually-arresting,

SNARE is a performance-piece that captures the brutality of violence against Aboriginal women, as well as the possibility of healing and grace.

WHEN IT RAINS 
Artist: Cara Mumford (Métis/Chippewa Cree) 

When It Rains is a silent dance film portraying one woman’s struggle for balance between her traditional upbringing and the harsh reality of the city.

LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY
Artists: Jesse Gouchey (Cree) and Xstine Cook

Spray paint is used to animate a series of portraits of missing women. The animated portraits were painted frame-by-frame as murals and banners, which now serve as memorials in the communities where the women disappeared.

Blogs were posted bi-monthly leading up to the public presentation. See the Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative at imagineNATIVE as a part of the Alternative New Media On Screen Program, October 20, 10:30am

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE STOLEN SISTERS:

Amnesty International Canada

Amnesty International’s Stolen Sisters report

Stats Canada data on Indigenous women

Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) final report on missing and murdered women

SSDI DISPLAY ON SHOPPING CENTRE DIGITAL DISPLAYS

SSDI works will be on digital displays on rotation during shopping hours at the following locations:

ALBERTA

Calgary International Airport, Calgary

Southcentre Mall, Calgary

Sunridge Mall, Calgary

Mill Woods Town Centre, Edmonton

Southgate Centre, Edmonton

CrossIron Mills, Rocky View

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby

Woodgrove Centre , Nanaimo

Richmond Centre, Richmond

Guildford Town Centre, Surrey

Oakridge Centre, Vancouver

Mayfair Shopping Centre, Victoria

MANITOBA

Kildonan Place, Winnipeg

NOVA SCOTIA

Mic Mac Mall, Halifax

ONTARIO

Quinte Mall, Belleville

Bramelea City Centre, Brampton

Lynden Park Mall, Brantford

Burlington Mall, Burlington

Dixie Outlet Mall, Etobicoke

Stone Road Mall, Guelph

Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket

Oakville Place, Oakville

Oshawa Centre, Oshawa

Bayshore Shopping Centre, Ottawa

St. Laurent Shopping Centre, Ottawa

Scarborough Town Centre, Scarborough

Dundee Place, Toronto

Holt Renfrew Centre, Toronto

Metro Hall, Toronto

Richmond Adelaide Place, Toronto

Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto

Vaughn Mills, Vaughn

Conestoga Mall, Waterloo

Devonshire Mall, Windsor