Monuments for Indigenous People with National Identity Are More Powerful

Part 1: Memorials without National Identification

Identity Restoration Monument

There is a giant turtle sculpture in the center at the Nathan Phillips Square outside the Toronto City Hall. In recognition of residential school survivors, this memorial is one of the Indian Residential School Survivor Legacy projects.

This sculpture, named The Restoration of Our Identity, designed by Anishinaabe artist Solomon King, shows a turtle climbing over a boulder, representing the struggling experience of the Indian residential school survivors and their resilience, as well as the triumph of the indigenous people against the suppress.

Turtle Island is a native American folklore about the creation of the earth's land. And the turtle climbing on a boulder symbolizes that the indigenous people's identity is restored. Like Peters said, "The turtle takes us back to our lands" (Johnson). The indigenous people are not forced to study in residential schools anymore. They have the choice to keep their culture and tradition now.

While this turtle is meaningful to the indigenous people, other peoples could not easily relate it to the indigenous people and the Indian residential school. As said by Christa Olson, "persuasion and identification rely on shared meaning," and "texts, images, and objects must be mutually intelligible to gain influence" (5).  Here, Turtle Island contains shared meaning to indigenous people, but not to other groups of people. So, I would argue that this sculpture is meaningful to indigenous people but not powerful in terms of recognizing Indian residential school survivors by others.

Part 2: Memorials with National Identification

Dignity of Earth and Sky

Dignity is a 50 feet high statue located in South Dakota in the US. It is a gift from Norm and Eunabel McKie of Rapid City to celebrate South Dakota's 125th anniversary of statehood. This sculpture was designed by Dale Lamphere to honor the cultures of the Lakota and Dakota people. According to Lamphere, "Dignity represents the courage, perseverance, and wisdom of the Lakota and Dakota culture in South Dakota" ("Dignity: of Earth & Sky").

This statue depicts an indigenous woman wearing a dress patterned after a two-hide native dress of the 1859s. Even for someone who never heard about indigenous people before, he could quickly know this statue represents a group of people with different cultural backgrounds based on her dress. The indigenous subjects in images could serve as representative members of the national body and could convene national identification (Olson, 1). Meanwhile, three Native American models ages 14, 29, and 55 were used to perfect the face of Dignity ("Dignity: of Earth & Sky"). Thus, the Lakota and Dakota peoples' identity was shown by the wearing and the face of the woman. People could have different understandings of this sculpture, like dignity, hope, and resilience, but all of these feelings are related to the indigenous people. For example, people may think the star quilt featuring 128 stainless steel blue diamond glittering in the sun serves as a representation of honor and admiration in Native American culture. This statue is popular, and since its installation, it has wowed visitors from across the world ("Dignity: of Earth & Sky").