Abstract

"Ji zoongde’eyaang – To Have A Strong Heart” is an Indigenous/Anishnaabe research creation project which illuminates an arts-based process. This thesis explores a framework that embraces an inter-generational tradition of expressing embodied experiences—memories, losses, and reclamation between Anishnaabe artist Lara Kramer and her mother Ida Baptiste. The purpose of this research is to explore the ways in which the creative process facilitates embodied knowledge and contributes to a process of inter-generational healing. This exploration takes place in documenting the use of auto-ethnography, drawing from mother/daughter intergenerational stories and life experiences and the transmission of this knowledge through the Anishinaabemowin language and the creation of blankets as symbols of love, care, warmth and mothering. Furthermore, I describe the creative process of blanket making, working with the historical artifact of trade blankets, together with bias tape and tin jingles, and their connection to Anishinaabemowin history and language transmission. I examine the thread of “strong heartedness” that is woven through the process, and the blankets, in a spirit of relationality, cultural connection and survivance. Ultimately, this thesis provides a model of a holistic approach to healing, by fostering deeper cultural and love-based connections, centering the mother-daughter methodology through collaboration and knowledge sharing.