Reconciliation in art

Two Indigenous artists express how God uses art to transform and heal people and communities

Making art can be a way to participate in the Creator’s creativity to transform and heal individuals and communities, according to two artists on a recent All Things Reconciled podcast episode.

Mackenzie Griffin of Kelowna, B.C., and Melodie Turori of San Diego, Calif., are both graduates of NAIITS (formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies), exploring the way God uses art to bring reconciliation in their own lives and the lives of others.

Creative experimentation and work has helped each of them reconnect with their own heritage and God-given creativity.

Turori, who traces her heritage to the Cook Islands (east of Australia), describes learning the communal practice of making traditional blankets. “I thought I could make a film about the blanket. It failed. Making a blanket is not about the blanket, but relationships.”

Griffin is a Cree and Saulteaux woman from Sunchild First Nation in Alberta. “At university I began to write my family’s stories in poetry,” she recalls. She also joined a drumming circle at Kelowna’s Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society, and learned to sing and drum.

Everyone has God-given abilities to be creative, both say – and integrating creativity with Christian faith, community and cultural self-awareness brings healing and health. THEEFC.CA/ALL-THINGS-RECONCILED

Writer and artist Mackenzie Griffin finds connection to her neighbours, Indigenous heritage, creation and Creator in a regular local drumming circle. 

KELOWNA, B.C.

DRUMMING CIRCLE