Our Home and Native Land

This piece is about the conflict between my perceptions of Canada throughout my life. The images were drawn digitally with a tablet in Autodesk Sketchbook, and the interactive animation was achieved through Adobe XD. I did this in consideration of the online gallery.

The first image represents my initial perception as a child. I had thought that Canada was a perfect place and was always very proud of being Canadian. For my family, Canada was a haven – my grandparents and great-grandparents moved from the Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary prior to and after World War II. They were able to escape the adversities of their home countries to live better and safer lives. For this reason, I had always viewed Canada as this welcoming refuge that allowed my family and I to be safe and free. In the piece, this perception of pride is represented by the crisp maple leaf. The connections to my family that immigrated to Alberta are represented by the fireworks – the colours are from the flags of the countries they were from. A younger version of myself with my immediate family on Canada Day is included.

The second image represents my recent perception as a young adult. Having finished high school and being in my second year of university, I have learned about Canada’s historical and contemporary abuse towards Indigenous people. When I think about my family and I living here, I remember that we have taken advantage of the land that is not ours. Canada’s colonial history has enabled us to move here, to create new livelihoods here, at the expense of so many other people’s lives. We are part of this settler legacy in Canada. I now view Canada as imperfect, a nation built on racism and Eurocentric self-interest. In the piece, this perception of disgust is represented by the torn and crumbling maple leaf. The connections to my family that immigrated to Alberta are represented by the shadows and tendrils of darkness spreading over the prairie and mountain landscape. My personal feeling of guilt is represented by a current depiction of myself learning about Canada’s history, and the red undertones from the shadows seeping into me.

The conflict between these two perceptions is represented by the transition animation. While I am grateful that my family was able to escape pre/post-war Europe, and that I have lived in a free country my whole life, I also feel incredibly saddened and disgusted by this country’s actions and guilty that I am part of its settler legacy. I have titled the piece Our Home and Native Land in reference to this, as that legacy is what the line in “O Canada” refers to. The piece may also remind one of their own perspectives and experiences regarding settler legacy – and depending on each individual — to consider the similarities and/or differences to my own.

About Mackenzie Bronk

Mackenzie Bronk was born and raised in Lethbridge, Alberta. She primarily works with drawing and painting mediums, both in the traditional and digital practice. The focus of many of her original pieces is centered around portraying human emotion through facial expression and posture of figures. She attended art classes all throughout middle school and high school. One of her graphite figure drawings from her final year of high school, titled Isolation, was displayed as part of a class exhibition at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in 2019. Mackenzie is currently attending the University of Lethbridge and is working towards her Undergraduate Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as an Art Studio major.