They Didn't Know We Were Seeds: Honouring Residential School and Holocaust Survivors

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton and Edmonton Public Library are partnering to bring an art exhibit for public display at the Stanley A. Milner branch. The exhibit features painted portraits of trauma survivors. Nine are Residential School survivors and nine are Holocaust survivors. All survivors featured are from Alberta and Saskatchewan and the artist, Carol Wylie, is from Saskatoon. The work, titled They didn’t know we were seeds, was inspired by the artist’s desire to acknowledge the stories of these people who suffered through traumatic, horrific, historical persecution and to lift these stories, so they are never forgotten. As a painter, she feels that “people’s stories live in the nuances of their faces” and her work seeks to confront its viewers with these stories.

This partnership included a ceremony to honour survivors, an event featuring Saddle Lake educator Terri Cardinal and Carol Wylie, as well as art therapy workshops facilitated by Jewish Family Services and EPL Elder-in-Residence Nohkom Jo-Ann. 

The exhibit will be available for viewing in the Stanley A. Milner gallery spaces from September 29 to November 25 2022 .

This program is supported by the Isadore and Florence Burstyn Memorial Fund and KSW Calgary Holocaust Education & Commemoration Endowment Fund.