Alberta artist’s paintings of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women help families heal By Emily Mertz, Global News March 4, 2020 Moving paintings created by an Alberta artist to memorialize Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are being shared around the world. “I was not kind of expecting it at all,” painter and tattoo artist Tristen Jenni Sanderson said. “That’s every artist’s dream and hope… I want my art to reach somebody — at least one person — to impact them a little bit.” One of her pieces, titled Not Invisible, has been shared as far away as Australia and New Zealand. Her art has been viewed on social media thousands of times.
“I’m trying to show the world this is a serious issue and a problem,” Sanderson said. “I want to show the world and it’s amazing that it’s actually happening. “In Australia I got a few messages saying how much my piece had impacted them. It was so powerful and [a] strong image for them because they’re experiencing the same problems down there, and it’s the same thing in the States. “I’ve got so many people, phone calls, different organizations reaching out. It’s kind of mind blowing.” The paintings feature the face of an Indigenous woman superimposed on a feather. The face is covered by a red hand print. “I drew the Indigenous woman looking up and strong and proud. The hand print is red because they say a spirit can only see in red in the spirit world. So, when you put that on… it’s calling the missing Indigenous women back home. “Putting that on their face is like: ‘We’re here and we’re not going to be silent.'”