The Indigenous Students Association at Glendon, in partnership with a number of campus partners, is bringing the The REDress Project to York University this March. In advance of the project, organizers are hoping to collect 300 donated red dresses, which will then be used as part of an art installation. The REDress Project was created in 2010 by Winnipeg-based Métis artist Jaime Black. The donated red dresses will be placed around the University's campuses to draw attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in Canada.
The REDress Project is part of a week of special events running from March 5 to 9:
- On March 5, from 3 to 4pm, in the Glendon cafeteria at the Glendon Campus, Jingle Dancer Wendy Brewster and the drumming group Spirit Wind, will perform
- On March 6, from 1 to 2pm, in Vari Hall at the Keele Campus, Wendy Brewster and Spirit Wind return to give another performance.
- On March 7, from 6 to 8pm, at the Lunik Co-op Café at the Glendon Campus, Glendon’s Anishinaabe Linguistics Professor Maya Chacaby will give a keynote talk.
- On March 8, from 6 to 8pm, at The Underground Restaurant in the Student Centre at the Keele Campus, The REDress Project Creator Jamie Black will deliver a keynote presentation prior to a panel discussion featuring York University Professors Bonita Lawrence, Ruth Kolezar-Green and Nicole Penak with Aboriginal Students Association at York executive member Erin Goulais.
The York University community can take part in the project by contributing their own red dresses to the project. Red dresses will be collected at various locations on the Keele Campus, but only until Feb. 26. Any community member who would like to donate a dress to the project can drop it off at any of the following Keele Campus locations:
- The RED Zone (Vari Hall)
- Community Safety Centre (William Small Centre)
- Office of the President (1050 Kaneff Tower)
- Tait McKenzie Centre
- ACMAPS (111 Central Square)
- Centre for Aboriginal Student Services (246 York Lanes)
- Kinsmen Building reception
- Office of the Dean, Faculty of Health (HNES 443)
- Admission Client Services Welcome Desk (W320 Bennett Centre for Student Services)
- Registrarial Services Triage Desk (W120 Bennett Centre for Student Services)
- Office of the Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies (York Lanes 230)
- Office of the Dean, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (201 Joan and Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts)
- Department of Dance, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (301 Accolade East Building)
- Department of Cinema & Media Arts, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (223 Centre For Film & Theatre)
- Winters College Office (Winters 121)
- Department of Visual Art & Art History and Department of Computational Arts, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (235A Joan and Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts)
- Office of the Dean, Faculty of Environment Studies (139G Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building)
Dresses can also be dropped off at three Dress for Success locations:
- 188 Lowther Ave., Toronto, ON M5R 1E8
- 320 Bayfield St., Unit 121, Barrie, ON L4M 3C1
- 10 Peter St., Orillia, ON L3V 5A2
More about The REDress Project
The REDress Project has a national scope, drawing focus to the more than 1000 unresolved cases of missing and murdered women, girls and two-spirited persons in Canada.
The goal of The REDress Project is to create an open discussion about the gendered and racialized nature of oppression of Indigenous women since colonization. Using donated red dresses, Black creates an installation art project that serves as a visual reminder of the missing and murdered women, girls and two-spirited persons.
More information as it becomes available will be posted on YFile and the York University Events page.