Jolene Rickard (Turtle Clan, Tuscarora Nation, born 1956)

Two Canoes refers to the old belief that the Native and Western cultures would always exist as two separate canoes traveling on parallel courses in the water, never meeting.  However, we live in a multi-cultural world, so this diptych is comprised of two images: the parallel trunks of two separate trees that appear limitless and a Western woman marrying a Native man, their feet touching to signify the joining of their heritages and their commitment to a shared future. (NW)