Mi'kmaw quillwork podcast delves into issues of Indigenous identity

Two Mi'kmaw women share how they make traditional quillwork on new podcast

3 years ago

Duration 3:59

Cheryl Simon and Kay Sark from P.E.I. create intricate pieces of art made from porcupine quills, drawing on traditional Mi'kmaw knowledge. They explain how they do it in their podcast, Epekwitk Quill Sisters.

Kay Sark is out on her back deck on Lennox Island First Nation in Prince Edward Island,sporting oneyellow rubber glove.

But the Mi'kmaw woman isn'twearing the glove toclean,she's wearing itto handle what's in the cardboard box next to her: a dead porcupine.

Sark reaches into the box andpullsclumps of quills off the porcupine, dropping them into a plastic container.

"I feel like it's like picking grass," she said, as the quills detach with a soft squelching sound.

This act of dequilling a porcupine is one of the first stepsin the long process of creating traditional Mi'kmawquill art. Sark also harvests materials such as birch bark and sweetgrass. The quills are dyedvibrant colours and threaded through holes in the bark to create intricate patterns, while the sweetgrass is often woven around the edge of a finished piece.

Sark and her friend, Cheryl Simon, co-hostthe podcast Epekwitk Quill Sisters, which launched in May 2021 anddetails what it takes to create their art, the same way generations of Mi'kmaqdid before them.

WATCH | How two Mi'kmaw women use podcast to explain traditional quillwork:

Honouring the porcupine

Sark first learned how to create quill art five years ago, during an apprenticeship program Simon taught at Lennox Island, located just off Prince Edward Island's north shore.

Part of what makes the podcast so appealing is their dynamic, which is like listening to a chat between sisters or good friends.

I absolutely love it because it keeps me out harvesting. I'm out exercising my rights it's the epitome of being Mi'kmaqwhen I'm doing my quillwork.- Cheryl Simon

They also offer listeners fascinating details abouthow these beautiful quill pieces are made, including the fact that Mi'kmaq living on Epekwitk, what they call P.E.I., don't have ready access to porcupine quills becausethe animals don't liveon the Island.

"So Cheryl messaged me on her way here this morning," said Sark. "She's like, 'I got you a present!' I was like, 'Is it roadkill?' "

Quill artistsdon't want tohunt or harm porcupines, and since somany arehit by cars, collecting roadkill is easier.

Simon, who is originally from the Scotchfort reserve in central P.E.I., but now lives in Dartmouth, N.S.,picked up this particular porcupine along aNew Brunswick highwayon her wayto P.E.I.

"That way, you know, it's not going to waste," she said. "And we can honour the porcupine by making something beautiful with its quills."

Connecting to culture

For Sark, dequilling a porcupine hasbecome second nature "I'm just chilling out here with my roadkill." and sometimespeople willstop to ask her questions.

"I have no problem being like, 'This is what I'm doing, this is how I do it.' "That ease explaining her culture didn't always come naturally.

"I've found my identity through quilling. I was not connected to my culture to really anything until I started to quill," she said.

"I got out into the woods and I was connecting with nature and with animals. Then it was there."

Simon also began connecting more to her Mi'kmawculture as an adult. In her twenties, she spent two years figuring outhow to quill on her own, learningfrom elders and others.

"This was the first thing that I did that really just flowed through me," she said.

"It was such an expression of who I am. And it ties together my connection with the land. I absolutely love it because it keeps me out harvesting. I'm out exercising my rights it's the epitome of being Mi'kmaq when I'm doing my quillwork."

The next generation of quill artists

Both women say passing the tradition to their children is an important aspect of their art.

"Quilling, it involves my whole family now,"said Sark, referring to how her partner and two children join her in harvesting the materials.

"It's normal for them to see bark and quills and Mom outside dequilling a porcupine."

On one podcastepisode,their four childrendiscussquillwork. Both womenhave been to their kids' classrooms to teach quilling, and their kids have taught their classmates as well.

SarkandSimon didn't learnabout quillwork from their own parents or grandparents, and Simongets choked up when she thinks about the generations of parents who couldn'tteach their children their culture.

"There was a lot of times where there wascomponents of our culture that couldn't be shared, that had to be actively hidden from people," she said.

"So to be able to teach my children that they only know the positive of their Mi'kmawidentity. And that is something that means more than I can express."

Sark said it feels good to be able to teach her kids something she never learned at their age.

"Who you are as a Mi'kmaq person it's OK to be that person. It's not something you should hide."

'We're really digging deeper'

With recent episodestouching on deep cultural issues, such as exercising their rights and the growth of their identity, the pair plan to continueinterviewing guests from across the Mi'kmaw territory.

"We're really digging deeper, but in a gentle way," said Simon. "So people are able to come along on this journey that I think that we've both experienced with quillwork and not have to be vulnerable about it."

She said she hopes podcast listeners can learn and grow without being "hit over the head in terms of how they're learning their lessons."