Photography Credit to Tracey George Heese

Togetherness is a collaborative, community-rooted artwork created in honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people (MMIWG2S+). Artists Tracey George Heese and Justine “Tini” Stilborn worked alongside school-aged children and youth to create a visual space of remembrance, love, and solidarity. The workshops began with a conversation: What does it mean to remember? How do we honour someone who is missing? How can art carry their presence forward? From these discussions emerged two streams of creation, carried out simultaneously.

Building on the legacy of Métis artist Jaime Black’s REDress Project, Tracey worked with students to design dresses using a variety of materials, transforming each piece into a vibrant, personal tribute. In parallel, Justine worked with students to create silhouetted figures filled with the faces of loved ones, an intentional departure from the “faceless” approach of the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s (NWAC) Faceless Doll Project. For Justine, this choice was a rejection of the erasure that too often defines society’s treatment of missing Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people, instead inviting youth to imagine the faces and presence of someone they would miss if they were gone.

In these artists’ hands, red became more than pigment. As Justine and Tracey discussed:
“Colour theory tells us that red is a long wavelength colour, it takes our eyes longer to process. We look at red longer. So that we look for them longer.”

The completed pieces were combined to create dress figures, which were then arranged to form a composition evoking the Canadian flag, its red fields and central form reimagined through the bodies and dresses of the artwork. This deliberate choice speaks to a truth too often denied: that Canada is built on, and continues to benefit from, a history of genocide against Indigenous peoples. Here, the flag is transformed from a symbol of national pride into a call for national accountability.

The project’s name—Togetherness—emerged naturally as the artists, students, Elders, and community members worked side by side. 

Together we remember. Together we grieve. Together we protect. Together we create.

This work exists within a broader movement for justice. The crisis of MMIWG2S+ is not an abstraction, Indigenous women and girls in Canada are 16 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than their non-Indigenous counterparts.^[1] Each red dress, each drawn face, is a refusal to let those statistics stand alone. They are reminders that behind every number is a person deeply loved.

Togetherness holds space for both mourning and resilience. It is a call to action, a gesture of solidarity, and an invitation: to witness, to remember, and to work toward a world where every Indigenous woman, girl, and gender-diverse person is safe, cherished, and able to live their fullest life.

Photography Credit to Tracey George Heese

This exhibition was made possible thanks to the Place of Reflection, the RCMP Heritage Center, and the Government of Saskatchewan’s Wasnokya Omnijayabi: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls+ Community Response Fund, whose support allowed this work to be created, shared, and experienced by the community as part of the annual Truth and Reconciliation events planned by the RCMP Heritage in collaboration with The Place of Reflection Committee.

Thank you to students from the following schools:

• Michael A. Riffel Catholic High School, Grade 12
• Ecole Centennial Elementary School, Grades 6-8
• Allan Blakeney Adult Campus
• Mother Teresa Middle School, Grade 6
• Arcola School, Grades 7-12
• St. Gregory School, Grade 6
• St. Dominic Savio School, Grades 5/6
• Ecole Wascana Plains Elementary, Grades 6

^[1]Assembly of First Nations (AFN). “Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls.” Assembly of First Nations, 2023, https://afn.ca/rights-justice/murdered-missing-indigenous-women-girls/. Accessed 15 August 2025.

Tracey George Heese, Direct hereditary Descendant of Chief Kakishiway Treaty 4 Signatory and a member from Ochapowace First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory, Saskatchewan, is a visionary fashion designer and cultural arts facilitator. Her work, under the label Timeless Shadows Apparel, blends traditional Indigenous artistry with contemporary fashion, serving diverse clients from rodeo, powwow to royalty. As a garment designer, arts facilitator and full-time grandmother, Tracey is connected to cultural roots and helps others express their beliefs.

Justine “Tini” Stilborn, a Regina-based artist and designer of Métis (Swampy Cree), Romanian, Scottish, and mixed Settler descent, blends pop culture influences with Indigenous perspectives to create playful, thought-provoking work. Her art has been featured in public installations, solo and group exhibitions, and she serves as Digital Programs & Communications Manager at the Indigenous Curatorial Collective. A consultant specializing in branding and marketing for OneHoop Advisory Services, Justine also sits on the CARFAC SK and CARFAC National boards, using creativity to spark dialogue, connection, and community impact.

Photography Credit to Tracey George Heese