Latest addition to Godfrey Sculpture Park seeks to advance reconciliation dialogue

Craig Bakay | Sep 27, 2017

Sculptor Stefan Duerst’s latest piece, now on view at his Godfrey Sculpture Park, is something of of a departure for him.
“I usually do visually pleasing shapes,” he said last week just before completing the installation.

While this latest piece, Oh! Canada, still is in a visually pleasing sculptural language, it differs from Duerst’s earlier works in two ways. One, while still an abstraction, it is instantly recognizable as a teepee and two, this one definitely has a narrative about it.
“The collapsing teepee structure depicts the deliberate way indigenous culture has been attacked through racist attitudes and government policies,” he said. “It is also meant to reflect on the violence and the tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women, men and children.”
To that end, Duerst and collaborator Tony Orr (aka K-Rock’s morning news guy) took a pole each from the structure and following the Park’s walking trail, deposited them in not-too-obvious places. Visitors to the Park are encouraged to make their own journey to discover the missing poles.
“If people tell the truth and are willing to learn, education is the best path to reconciliation,” said Orr. “We didn’t do this just to make a statement.
“We’re trying to get people thinking about reconciliation.”

“This isn’t an end point, who knows where it will lead,” said Duerst. “When I learned about residential schools and some of the history, I could have chosen to do nothing but it touched me on a very emotional level.
“And that’s a very important aspect of art, its ability to touch people on a very deep emotional level.”
“Working with Stefan has opened my eyes to many things,” said Orr.