In Honour of Our Grandmothers

Elizabeth St Jacques is the author of Echoes All Strung Out and
Survivors: The Great Depression, 1929-1939.

The idea for this oversize volume arose in 1992 at a multicultural art
exhibition that included paintings by George Littlechild (Plains Cree)
and by Jewish artist Linda Spaner Dayan Frimer. Based on the horrendous
injustices their people have suffered, Littlechild’s bold block
paintings and Frimer’s eerie phantomlike canvases echo in unison a sky
teeming with voices from those silenced during their lifetimes. All of
which so stirred a gentleman of the Kwakiutl nation that he remarked,
“They tried to kill the spirit of both our people.” Inspired by the
truth of this statement, poets Schneider and Gottfriedson teamed up with
the two artists for this haunting collection of 32 poems and an equal
number of paintings.

This book demands (and deserves) to be journeyed through slowly as each
poet and artist escorts the reader from past and present into the future
via Consciousness, Creation, Depth, and Hope. Aesthetic and political,
it’s all here: spirituality and beauty; disgrace and outrage; pain and
sorrow; and determination to honor their heritage and work for a
peaceful tomorrow.

Each poem and accompanying color painting is given one or more glossy
pages; the overall effect is a beautiful, powerful, and deeply moving
work of art.