Answering the Call of Blood Memory

There’s a quiet voice that’s been calling me home—not to a place I’ve been, but to something deep within me.

As I prepare to attend the Indigenous Haute Couture artist-in-residence program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, I feel that voice growing louder. It’s the call of my ancestors—of my Swampy Creek Cree and Métis roots—guiding me toward reconnection, creativity, and healing.

Jane “Jenny” Monkman. My 4th great grandmother. She was an incredible healer who was gifted her nursing papers, who had a hospital built for her for new mothers and convalescing.

Elizabeth Ann Cummings- my 3rd great grandmother.

Though I didn’t grow up fully immersed in my Indigenous culture, I have always felt its presence. In the rhythm of a needle pulling through fabric. In the way my eyes intuitively understand patterns, color, and texture. In the quiet hours of hand sewing my work requires—it feels like someone is whispering, you’ve done this before.

I believe in blood memory—that ancestral knowledge lives on in our bones, even when it has been disrupted, denied, or forgotten. As a contemporary fashion designer, I know that my gift for sewing and embellishment isn’t something I learned alone. It was gifted to me—passed down through generations of makers, storytellers, and artists, many of whom I never got to meet, but who live through me every time I create, in each stitch my hands make.

This residency at Banff is more than an opportunity to learn advanced techniques in Indigenous beading, tufting, and quilling. It’s a sacred space where I can listen—really listen—to the teachings that were always meant for me, passed down in an unwritten heritage.

It’s a journey of reconnection. A journey of remembrance. A journey of returning to myself and those who walked the path that led to my existence.

For the next month, I’ll be living and creating in the heart of the Rockies, surrounded by nature, fellow Indigenous artists, and a community that understands this path. I’ll be learning, unlearning, and stitching my story together—one bead, one thread, one breath at a time.

I'll be sharing my experience through daily updates—videos of technique explorations, images of the land and studio, and reflections from my artist heart. My hope is that by sharing this journey, others who are on their own path of cultural reclamation will feel seen, supported, and inspired.

This is more than art. It’s medicine.

Thank you for walking with me.