Illustrating History: Indigenous Stories Past & Present
Event Details
Take a closer look at Indigenous histories across Turtle Island and the stunning art that brings them to life on the page. What does illustration bring to these narratives? How does it change the way these narratives are told and received by readers, such as yourself? As they say, an image is worth 1,000 words…
Presented in partnership with the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Moderated by Mètis in Space co-host Molly Swain.
Books featured:
- A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette (ebook / paperback)
- The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill (ebook / paperback)
A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era
Portage & Main
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins is struggling to adjust to a new school and a new home while in foster care. When an ordinary day in history class turns extraordinary, Echo’s life will never be the same. Follow Echo as she experiences pivotal events from Métis history, gains new perspectives about where she came from, and imagines what the future might hold.
Written by award-winning author Katherena Vermette, the A Girl Called Echo series of graphic novels is a story about identity, isolation, and the contemporary foster care system.
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book
Arsenal Pulp Press
The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book powerfully portrays flashpoints in history when Indigenous peoples have risen up and fought back against colonizers and other oppressors. Events depicted include the the Spanish conquest of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca empires; the 1680 Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico; the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890; the resistance of the Great Plains peoples in the 19th century; and more recently, the Idle No More protests supporting Indigenous sovereignty and rights in 2012 and 2013, and the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. Canadian events depicted include the Oka crisis in 1990, the Grand River land dispute between Six Nations and the Government of Canada in 2006, and the Wet’suwet’en anti- pipeline protests in 2020.
With strong, plain language and evocative illustrations, this revised and expanded edition of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book includes 59 pages of new material, nearly doubling the size of the original book, and reveals the tenacity and perseverance of Indigenous peoples over the 500-plus years of genocide, massacre, torture, rape, displacement, and assimilation they have endured: a necessary antidote to conventional histories of the Americas.
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