Conversation with Artists and Land Defenders Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch

For the #callresponse project Christi Belcourt works with traditional teacher and collaborator Isaac Murdoch to hold ceremony with plants and animals as her community with The Onaman Collective. Just as the natural world is depicted symbolically as medicine in her work through the act of painting she aims to take action in an effort to restore balance as a human being amongst many living beings. Her project stems from the believe that we as people are not ready for reconciliation. She does not consider the first step towards reconciliation as starting between native and non-­natives but rather as something that needs to take place between humans and the plants and animals. Pronounced ah­nah­min, The Onaman Collective was formed in 2014 by Isaac Murdoch, Christi Belcourt and Erin Konsmo out of their deep care for youth and the future of community. The collective was formed for the express purpose of finding ways to connect youth to land, traditional knowledge, language and Elders through art and land­based activities.