Seven Sacred Teachings
Panel from Seven Sacred Teachings, 2015 - Kelly Duquette, Métis, Atikokan. On loan from the artist.
Kelly Duquette (b. 1994) is a young Métis artist who uses artwork to express her feelings about Indigenous issues and identity. She was not introduced to her Métis heritage until later on in her childhood, and found artistic inspiration through the discovery of this hidden identity. Duquette connects to the Métis culture and documents her personal discoveries through her work.
Duquette’s Seven Sacred Teachings series explores the Indigenous knowledge that has been lost over time. In each of the seven paintings there is an animal hidden in negative space, representing a teaching that has been lost. The intervening beadwork is used as a way to describe the attempts by the Métis to reclaim their culture and identity through the re-learning of these sacred teachings – wisdom, truth, respect, courage, honesty, love, and humility.