Sudbury initiative connects community through art, activism and solidarity

A new initiative in the City of Greater Sudbury is connecting people through art, activism and community solidarity.

The Circling Project by Myths and Mirrors is a year-long art project to bring awareness to some of the major issues that people in the community are dealing with.

"[It's] an attempt at a response to the times that we're living in, there's a lot of fear and a lot of people are depressed or confused and don't know what to do, there's environmental problems, there's a lot of hate messages going around and people just seem to need to circle and get together," said Laurie McGauley, artistic director at Myths and Mirrors.

The project invites the community to come together to discuss some of these topics, in what they are calling a circle. There will be several "circles" throughout the year. Each one will be followed up by an art making session, where the people involved in the discussion will create artwork to reflect on what they heard.

"The circle will invite people to share their own stories, invite people to look at the connections we have with each other and look at the things that divide us and keep us separate," she said.

Myths and Mirrors invited Teddy Syrette, a two-spirited, Indigenous storyteller and advocate to lead the first circle, on Feb. 27. Following that discussion, the group will gather to create art from what they heard during the circle, on March 9.

McGauley says a circle represents equality and safety, no one is at the top.

A lot of the people I'm talking to are feeling very paralyzed by what's going on in the world today,- Laurie McGauley

"When people are feeling threatened, they want to circle in together, so it's going to be a safe place where people can talk about their issues and their stories and hopefully it'll be a place where people can make some real connections and some friendship," she said.

The growing amount of organized racism and hate will be a topic discussed at one of the circles throughout the year, McGauley says there are many people in the community who feel threatened or are afraid of these kinds of messages, which is why it's important to discuss it.

Environmental issues, like climate change and what people can do to help the environment will also be discussed. The Robinson Huron treaty will be discussed, "a lot of settlers and white people aren't paying enough attention, but of course it's a key issue in terms of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations," she said. 

For other topics, Myths and Mirrors will be consulting with the community to discover what others are saying is important to them, McGauley says they've already been asked to have a circle to discuss missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. 

It's time to discuss these hard and sometimes painful topics, she says, and people should feel safe while discussing these topics and sharing their stories.

"A lot of the people I'm talking to are feeling very paralyzed by what's going on in the world today, myself included, there just seems to be so much turbulence and so much division and at a time when we should really be coming together," McGauley said.

It's about connecting and supporting each other through some of the issues that people in the community are going through.

"To share things and then to see how we can support each other, how we can take care of each other, how we can create art out of our concerns and hopefully how we can do some activism or some support work that will carry on through the entire community," she says.