Residential school survivor shares his story through art

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 20, 2024.

Submitted photo - Artist Wesley Harry holds a piece called Bear Mountain.

A residential school survivor is selling paintings and handmade jewelry as a means to share his talents and connect with his culture.

Wesley Harry started selling his paintings in 1989 after encouragement from his friends. He learned the Indigenous traditions for art and beadwork from the elders, but he didn’t always have his culture to identify with.

Being a residential school survivor, Harry struggled with finding his identity as an adult. He was scared of the Elders because of what was taught in the residential schools.

“Well, for me, it was because of the residential school, I had a fear of elders the residential school put it in my mind that if you talked to an elder, something bad will happen to you.”

Harry also struggled believing in God because of the brutality of the residential schools.

“Everything the residential school did to me I rejected it all because the nuns used to say, ‘if you don’t do this, you do that you’re going straight to hell. They would beat us like dogs, like physically beat us on a daily basis. How could you be part of God if you could do that much evil to a little child and have no remorse over this?” said Harry.

Harry eventually did turn back to the elders and his traditional ways, but it wasn’t without hard work.

“I finally started realizing that elders are the knowledge keepers. They’re the ones who have all the knowledge that we have to learn a lot from them. I had to get over my fear of the elders and start talking to the elders. That’s when I found out they were the ones who know you’re the one to keep all their knowledge. We have to go to them and learn from them and keep our traditions going,” said Harry.

Harry’s artwork contains traditional stories through the Little Man series. Each piece contains a story of Indigenous traditions. Along with the Little Man series Harry also has a greeting card which has his story on the back. Harry says he took 14 years to articulate the message of not losing hope.

“I wrote part of my own story on the back and I tell people that this greeting card was designed to inspire people not to lose hope because all the violence through in life so, I put my own story in the back to strengthen that idea of not to lose hope. Because if I could go through what I went through and I’m still here and I’m better with my life than what I had before. I feel like my card has to get out there to the people who really need it,” said Harry.

Harry has designed merchandise for the Piikani Nation Powwows and work can also be found at Fort Whoop-Up as well as at Zum’s in Waterton.