New local art display shares Indigenous history

CALGARY — One playground in southwest Calgary is now home to an Indigenous art piece.

Blackfoot artist Ryan Jason Allen Willert was commissioned to create the art that is now the centre of the White Oak playground in Calgary.

The piece, which has been four years in the making, is composed of two large double sided panels and features a painted buffalo head.

“In the Blackfoot culture, our spirit animal is the buffalo,” said Willert. “The buffalo always charges towards a storm instead of away from the storm.”

He says the display is meant to teach people a lesson to not run away from their problems, to apologize to the people they have hurt and to forgive themselves and others.

The playground’s art piece represents the First Nations who have made their home in Canada and is meant to teach Indigenous history to the children that play there.

“It’s really important that non-Indigenous people educate themselves on the people that still do live on this land but at one time were the only people living on this land,” said Willert.

A formal opening of the display is planned for the fall when COVID-19 restrictions are eased.