Carey Newman had a vision. A big one.
He wanted to make a commemorative project that explored the full scope of the forced residential schooling of more than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada between 1870 and 1996.
Newman, of Coast Salish, Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw and European ancestry, called his project the Witness Blanket, although the result is more metaphorical than literal.
His monumental installation takes the form of a freestanding wall and incorporates objects gathered from each of Canada’s 139 residential schools. Completed in 2015, it is composed of 13 cedar-framed panels and stretches longer than a school bus.
Carey Newman (photo by Melissa Welsh)
Newman's book, Picking Up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket, is also colossal in both size and scope.
It tells the story behind the project, showing the artifacts – everything from shoes and photographs to chunks of brick and wood – before they were laid into the work, unfolding the immensity of this tragic part of Canadian history.
The book also features stories from survivors, including members of Newman’s own family, and pays tribute to those who attended – and died at – the schools.
Co-written by Newman, a visual arts professor at the University of Victoria, and Kirstie Hudson, a Victoria editor and writer, its 180 pages let readers into the experience, giving them a taste of the work that went into gathering, categorizing, displaying and honouring each of the work’s 889 artifacts.
Detail of "Witness Blanket" shows a door from a residential school. (photo by Jesse Hlady)
In the book, Newman tells of visiting a residential school slated for demolition. He decided to take the door that led to the boys’ infirmary. For a long time, the door lived in his studio. He made sure it was always open so there was “nowhere for any secrets to hide.”
The door became a central feature in the Witness Blanket. It is hinged so viewers can walk through to the other side, where Newman placed a few objects that did not fit elsewhere. In a chapter called Behind Closed Doors, he tells how he altered the door, being mindful it might trigger traumatic reactions in former students.
Detail of "Witness Blanket." (photo by Media One Inc.)
Newman’s sensitivity is woven throughout the book. Just as he shaped the experience for others, it also shaped him. The more he learned about what had happened in residential schools and the effects on students, their families and, eventually, their own children, “the better I understood the size and complexity of the issues that reconciliation must address.”
That complexity is poignantly illustrated in one of the artifacts, a children’s book called A Stranger at Home. The second instalment in Margaret Pokiak-Fenton’s memoir, it tells of her return after a two-year stay at a residential school in the Northwest Territories. At first, her mother didn’t recognize her, saying: “Not my girl.” Newman says the memoir, as well as two dolls, represents “how the residential school experience flows from one generation to the next.”
Detail of "Witness Blanket." (photo by Jesse Hlady)
The importance of family is portrayed throughout the text and in stunning photographs, both current and historical. Newman’s understanding of the power of the “silent witness” is at the core of his precise documentation.
Still, when viewing the installation, questions arise: Where are the stories? Where are the people who hold those stories? Perhaps these missing elements are what motivated Newman to write Picking Up the Pieces. He also co-directed a documentary film with Victoria digital media producer Cody Graham. Both the book and the documentary convey aspects of history the installation alone cannot, bringing to life the voices of people directly affected by residential schools.
In the book, survivor Harold Gatensby says: “I knew three things at 12 years old: I was stupid, I was ugly and I was going to hell. Those three things I knew for sure. Everything else was mixed up and confusing. That’s what residential school did to me.” ■
Picking Up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson: Orca Book Publishers, Victoria, 2019.
The Witness Blanket will be housed permanently at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. A replica is touring Canada while the original work undergoes restoration. It will be on view at the Chapel Gallery in North Battleford, Sask., from Dec. 19 to Jan. 24, and then move on to Mount Royal University in Calgary and the Winnipeg airport.
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