As Britain strives to take more pride in its history and promote ‘British’ values in its schools, its role in North American Indigenous history has been left off the curriculum, resulting in an education that lacks any awareness of the societies whose land it colonised. After four months of studying Indigenous history and culture for the first time, this final project sought to find a way to memorialise Indigenous people and their culture in one of the countries that was most responsible for their suffering – a country that is now so able to turn a blind eye to events that didn’t occur within its shores. In doing this, this project considered the implications of memorialising events that occurred an ocean away, and the wilful or naïve ignorance of the British public. After considering various forms of memorials, this project focused on designing a memorial garden, serving partly to increase the visibility of Indigenous people to British citizens, and partly to begin educating on aspects of their culture. This resulted in research on plants, wildlife, and symbols important to Indigenous societies, and careful consideration of all features of the garden, proposing a way for Indigenous stories to be told. The final design emphasises the importance of water, nature, and community, and is proposed as a way to begin eroding the ignorance of the British public to events that should be considered part of their history, and the cultures they affected through them.
Chief of this River
