The Renfrew County Inquest Public Art Response brings together multiple organizations to realize the creation of a public artwork offering residents opportunities to make meaning of and respond to the September 22, 2015 murders of Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam, and Carol Culleton, in and around Wilno, Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley. It will also provide pathways for community arts engagement during the 2022 Chief Coroner of Ontario’s Inquest that will investigate how and where systemic change could prevent such gender-based violence in the future.
The project features a mentorship and training program for local residents in community arts engagement and pebble mosaic production, culminating in a public unveiling event on September 22, 2022 (Water Tower Park, Barry’s Bay, ON), featuring a 9-foot pebble mosaic commission by artist Anna Camilleri, and multiple small community-generated mosaics that will tangibly connect impacted communities to a larger movement of support.
Project Leadership
Ending Violence Against Women Renfrew County (EVA) and the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County (WSAC) have been involved in this case since the day of the murders, providing support to family members as well as offering opportunities for communities to come together to grieve and talk. EVA has sought standing at the Inquest to continue to raise the concerns and interests of the community.
EVA/WSAC will engage communities through forums, one-on-one interviews and conversations, as well as advise on the creation of a public artwork and community arts engagement process produced and devised by ReDefine Arts in partnership with local civic, community, and cultural partners: the Township of Madawaska Valley, Community Resource Centre (Killaloe) and the Survivor Advocacy & Support Initiative (SASI), Victim Services of Renfrew County (VSRC), and Ottawa Valley Community Arts.
ReDefine Arts is grateful for the opportunity to lead the community-arts engagement, mentorship, and public art creation portion of this project, taking place now through to October 2022, in partnership with local community & civic organizations.
Find the full media release with partner bios at the following link: https://bit.ly/3PMIMne
Media Contact
Anna Camilleri & Tristan R. Whiston, Artistic Co-Directors
ReDefine Arts
Phone: 647-937-1470
Email: info@reddressproductions.org