Camosun indigenous artist in residence Margaret Briere focuses on Coast Salish art, a genre found largely in the Pacific Northwest; much of Briere’s art deals with issues surrounding mental health. She says her art does not represent mental health in a typical way, often using birds as symbolism.
“In my mind, if I didn’t say it was about metal health, I don’t think people would know. The symbols are what they are to me in Coast Salish art form,” she says. “[Birds] are related to air, and the metaphysic—I’m really drawn to metaphysics—symbolization of air is the mind; the mental.”
Briere’s art has helped her through some of the darkest times in her life.
“The theme of mental health is drawn upon my own experiences and how it can relate to a wider audience and my own story,” she says.
Briere uses art, in part, to tell her story: everything from cultural struggles to personal struggles, such as the death of her brother in 2015, after which she fell into a depression.
“My story is—like many indigenous people today—overcoming the effects of colonization, the effects of trauma, the effects of loss through trauma and colonization,” she says.
Briere’s indigenous artist in residence exhibition at the college is titled Illumination; she says the name highlights the hope and change that’s possible both personally and culturally. She adds that the college has made good changes in regard to reconciliation.
“They’re really supportive. I’ve been really happy in my residency. The staff members of the department are always checking in with me on their own time and they do a lot of work for students,” she says. “It’s been really beneficial to my growth as an artist.”
Briere turned to art while struggling with her brother’s death and ended up finding her way through it.
“I had no idea what I was going to do with myself after that, and it ended up being art,” she says. “I didn’t even call myself an ‘artist’ at that point. I had one person in that timeframe commission me for art pieces.”
Briere calls her brother passing away “the climax of the hardship” and since then she has come into her own more as an artist, she says.
“I’ve been really progressing in ways that I wasn’t anticipating, but now I’m really building on it consciously,” she says. “In the beginning period of the grief I definitely just sunk into art everyday.”
Illumination
Thursday, April 12 until Monday, April 16
Young building basement, Camosun College
Free
camosun.ca