Our Guerilla art movement begins in Calgary!

Our team member and Artist Destin Running Rabbit has recently launched a Guerrilla art movement meant to evoke, from Settlers and Immigrants, a sense of urgency in Canadian society to intervene with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Trans & Two-Spirits crisis in Canada. Destin unveiled the project this Tuesday at several locations in downtown Calgary and reached over 6,000 people so far. The video of the social experiment has also gone viral. We are hoping to continue the display at several other locations across the city on different days. Destin has chosen not to disclose the location and times and dates of the display because it is meant to be random and to make people think about it on the spot. Too long have Settlers and Immigrants in Canada ignored the crisis and chosen to turn a blind eye. With this display, they can’t.

If we can have a red couch travel across Canada in the name of “Canada 150,” then we must NOT ignore this human rights crisis any longer. It’s time to wake people up to the brutal reality. It’s time to make the change and urge our government to make that change.

Note: This project is created by Destin Running Rabbit, who engaged and consulted with an advocacy group of Indigenous women working towards the MMIW crisis in Calgary. Iman Bukhari, a member of CCMF was part of the project in terms of supporting Destin with the video (but is not the artist of the project). During the displays, as a precaution, volunteers carrying warning signs have always been positioned around the installation spots to avoid triggering people.

Destin acknowledges some people may find the art offensive but said the response from Indigenous women in particular has been strongly positive. Most of the negative response we have seen has been from Settlers saying it is too graphic to display in public spaces. However, ironically these same people have no problem with graphic displays on Halloween. 

From a distance you see a wrapped-up cloth laid on the street. Underneath it is an Indigenous blanket. You look closely and there seems to be red markings that look like blood on the cloth. What do you do?

As a social experiment, the artist of this guerrilla art display placed the piece on various streets in Calgary, Canada and started filming the public’s reactions. This art piece questions settler and immigrants lack of responsibility and urgency about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans & Two-Spirits in Canada. The artist of this project hopes to evoke empathy and a sense of urgency in society to intervene with this injustice.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans & Two-Spirits in Canada is a human rights crisis that has only recently become a topic of discussion within national media. In 2015, the RCMP reported that while aboriginal women represent just 4.3% of Canada’s female population, they represent 16% of female homicide victims and 11% of missing persons cases involving women. We can't ignore the patterns that are being repeated again and again in the lives of these women. Until the root causes are addressed, the violence will continue. This art piece asks WHY Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans & Two-Spirits are seen as disposable in our colonial society and what are YOU doing to help end this?

This art display was created to spark discussions among settlers and immigrants about their ignorance relating to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans & Two-Spirits in Canada. 

View some Unsolved Cases of Indigenous Women and Girls.