Spirit menders: the expression of trauma in art practices by Manitoba Aboriginal women artists

Abstract

Historical trauma has affected the lives of all Aboriginal people in Canada. This thesis argues that Aboriginal art has the potential to contribute to recovery from trauma on an individual and a communal level but that its continued analysis through the Western gaze may take away from this restorative impact. The main purpose of this research is therefore to explore how historical trauma theory and the Aboriginal ethos can be viewed together to create a new hybridized lens though which to interpret Aboriginal art. This lens has been named the Spirit Mender Model. The thesis explains and illustrates how this model provides a useful Aboriginal lens through which to understand, interpret, and appreciate Aboriginal art in it restorative impacts.