Ruby Bruce's illustrations of Indigenous food culture spark nostalgia and connection

You may recognize Ruby Bruce's work. The Anishinaabe and Red River Métis artist from Winnipeg is famous for her flora and fauna-laced drawings and contemporary woodland-style pieces. Her most recent collection of food illustrations, #n8vfoodseries, has garnered a light-hearted yet sincere response from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities around the world.

Household staples that Bruce grew up with like Spam and China Lily soy sauce are commemorated in the illustrations, and the pieces have left her audience craving more. The nostalgia, connection and memories sparked are just what she wanted her audience to experience; her aim is to foster feelings of personal empowerment, resonance and ties to community.  

We spoke with Bruce about the series, and the significance and impact of her images, shortly after she was named a 2023 Indspire Award recipient in the youth category.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

What made you want to mix food brands with contemporary woodland art? 

I wanted to recreate both traditional and modern Native foods, drawing on inspiration from my childhood, the food I eat today and the memories associated with food. Food tells a story about who people are and where they come from. 

For this series, I only use foods that I can connect with on a cultural basis. But it's not just what I'm consuming, it's what my entire community is consuming and has possibly consumed for generations. 

What made you choose the specific foods or ingredients depicted in your #n8vfoodseries illustrations? 

I thought about what I used to eat as a kid and what I eat now. When I did the first illustration, which was of Spam, I got a lot of suggestions from people on what they eat and what I should do next. If I resonated with the food that they mentioned, I would create it.

What is your personal relationship to the foods in the series? Do you like them? Have you always? Or has your relationship to them changed over time? 

It hasn't changed. Over the years, I've been made more aware that these foods could also connect to the fact that I grew up in poverty and in a low socioeconomic standing. But as a kid, I never really thought about that, and I don't really think on it [now]. It's just something that I'm more aware of. I'm more aware that Indigenous people have been greatly undervalued and underrepresented.

I want to empower people through this work. I want them to be able to see themselves, their traditional and new cultural foods, their community, their family and their memories through something that speaks to them in a good way. I want them to be able to see art that they can identify with and feel good about. So, while I'm aware that these foods can be linked to poverty or a low socioeconomic standing — like, it can remind people of the cruel history — it's also good to remember history.

I think these pieces are thought-provoking in a lot of ways. Everyone's going to take something different from the pieces, but for me, I want others to find this nostalgia. I want people's emotions to come out, to experience good emotions and good memories. 

I've had hundreds of people from First Nation, Métis and Inuit backgrounds reach out to me, and they've told me how it connects with them in a good way. 

Can you tell us about the themes of connection, abundance and contentment that we're seeing in your illustrations and captions? 

This food series promotes interconnectivity. It unites our nations and bridges gaps between cultures. Food is medicine regardless of if it has nutritional value — it has spiritual value. And it forges connections across all in, I'll say, Indian Country. 

It reminds us that we're all connected, that we all have similarities and that we all share similar food. I'm both Métis and Anishinaabe on different sides of my family, so I know there are differences, but I also know there are similarities. 

This series clearly has people feeling nostalgic, and they are commenting with their own memories. What are you hearing most? What's been surprising to hear? 

The most surprising thing has been to have Indigenous people from Hawaii and Australia buy prints from me and tell me that my artwork really resonates with them and their cultural food. 

I was like, "Oh, wow." For me, when I was making the artwork, I wasn't sure if anyone would see it. But so many people ended up seeing it, and so many people were impacted by it in a good way. And it wasn't just, like, in my community, or just in Manitoba, but it was national, and then it was also in the States, and then it was also in Australia. 

Check out more of the artwork in Ruby Bruce's #n8vfoodseries here.