This trio of paintings is a visual essay on Maliseet language Death, Maliseet language maintenance, and Maliseet language revitalization. I find that the textual representation of Maliseet language ontological states in the form of ethnographies failed to capture the emotive force behind language death, maintenance, and revitalization. These paintings are closer approximations of my own embodied reactions to the prospects of Maliseet language death, maintenance, and revitalization. As I tried to convey into words the emotive force of these paintings I found myself chanting to myself my own fears and aspirations for the Maliseet language.
a. Title- Dark Rain
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It looks like a dark rain falling in a stormy environment.
It is the multitude of streams of tears trailing down many generations of Maliseet children’s cheeks.
It is a dark landscape, a void, that muffles Maliseet words and renders them meaningless.
It looks like the eclipsing of aboriginal light.
It is the fading echoes of Maliseet articulations of knowledge of Maliseet deep time.
It is the silencing of ancient voices into the darkness of extinction.
It looks like the specters of colonial domination.
It is the ossified macabre grin of colonial agents of death; French, English, and Christian cultures.
It is the erasure of Maliseet presence under the grounds of domination and assimilation.
It looks like anguish on a child’s face when silenced.
It is the hands of domination over the mouths of those who would dare use Maliseet voices.
It is the increasing disembodiment of the Maliseet language.
b. Title- Wabanaki Dawn
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It looks like a Wabanaki Dawn.
It is the first glow of rising sun in Wabanaki country.
It is the infrequent voicing of Maliseet resonating in Maliseet worlds.
It looks like a return to aboriginal light.
It is watching the sun rise from the confluence of the Tobique and Wolastok Rivers.
It is observing the convergence of Maliseet worlds from a quasi-mythical axis mundi- the Tobique Rock.
It looks like a celebration of all our relations.
It is recalling Maliseet names for all animals that share our land.
It is recalling the stories of Maliseet deep time.
It looks like an acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of language, landscape, and oral traditions.
It is remembering the stories and remembering all our relations to this land of the first dawn.
It is remembering who we are- Wolastokulwiyik.
c. Title- Wolastokwiyik Cosmogenesis
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It looks like Wolastokwi cosmogenesis.
It is the spirit of place.
It is a return to the beginning to ensure our place in the future.
It looks like the aboriginal full-light of day.
It is the illumination of Maliseet worlds through language, landscape, and oral traditions.
It is the evaporation of dark rains, and drying of streams of tears.
It looks like a growing current of Maliseet remembrance.
It is the promise of many more generations of Maliseet speakers.
It is the promise of many more stories told in the Maliseet language.
It looks like homage paid to all generations of Maliseet language speakers.
It is the debt we owe to our elders who continue to use and share the Maliseet language.
It is the debt we owe each other as we dare to insist on speaking Maliseet well into the future.