My artwork A Grandmother’s Legacy captures a treasured childhood memory—the only time my grandmother was able to take me to her childhood home in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Turtle Island. This is where my ancestors have lived, learned, hunted, and fished since time immemorial.
As a child, I walked along the ocean with my grandmother, where she had grown up harvesting the sea’s abundance. I remember watching her collect seashells, slipping them into her pocket. I thought she simply loved shells—until one day, I noticed she had picked one with a mussel still inside. “Eww, Gramma! That one still has something living in it!” I exclaimed. She smiled and said, “I know—that’s why I picked it up.”
It was then she shared the teaching of the earth’s generosity: everything we need to survive is freely provided if we have the knowledge of where to look. That evening, we feasted on the ocean’s offerings.
This moment represents more than a personal memory—it reflects the transmission of traditional knowledge, passed down through generations, that sustains our ways of knowing and being. Through this piece, I honour the resilience of our cultural heritage, the intergenerational sharing of teachings, and the deep relationship between our people and the land and waters that have nourished us for countless generations.