Arjun Pillai
Daily Herald
When Mary Longman was first approached to create a public artwork for Prince Albert, her mind went immediately to the children.
Longman, a Saulteaux artist from Gordon First Nation, is an award-winning sculptor, educator and scholar whose career spans more than 30 years. Her art has appeared in national institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada, Remai Modern and the McKenzie Art Gallery, and internationally at venues including MoMA in New York and the Smithsonian. She is also an Associate Professor in Art and Art History at the University of Saskatchewan, specializing in Indigenous Art History, sculpture, drawing and digital media.
For Longman, Passage Home is among the most personal works of her career. It honours Indigenous children who died away from home in residential schools, day schools, foster care and the Sixties Scoop, while also creating a place of healing for survivors and families.
“I’ve wanted to do piece dedicated to Indigenous children for many years,” she said. “There are children who died in residential schools and foster care, and there are suicides that happen in foster homes that go uninvestigated. This piece is about hope and a change for the next generation.”
The centrepiece is a 15-foot bronze travois, the traditional carrier once pulled by dogs and horses on the Plains. In Longman’s sculpture, the travois carries a bison robe and bronze moccasins representing children’s return to their families and communities.
“It’s symbolic of transportation for the children to return home to their communities, to their place of origin, to their place of origin, to their place of origin, to their families and to rest in peace,” Longman explained.
The setting for the piece, Scarrow Plaza at River Street West and 11th Street West, has already been transformed into a healing park. Completed earlier this year, it features a red-brick pathway, maple trees, sage plantings and benches engraved with the words “Give children roots, love and wings.”
Longman said she hopes the site will function both as a gathering space for public ceremonies and as a place for individual reflection.
“It is a place for people to come together on Reconciliation Day and many Indigenous events,” she said. “But it is also for individuals to sit, reflect, heal and grieve.”
Bringing the design to life required combining traditional and contemporary methods. The travois dome was too complex for conventional moulds, so technicians used 3D scanning and printing to create components before they were sent for bronze casting.
“Ultimately it’s not going to end up as a 3D printed piece, it will be a bronze sculpture,” Longman said. “The 3D printing was just part of the process to get there.”
She worked with Elders to ensure ceremony and cultural protocols guided the project, from preparing the land to planning for a sunrise ceremony at the unveiling. Local Indigenous organizations, including the Prince Albert Grand Council, have offered their support.
This is not the first time Longman has created a large-scale public artwork. Her earlier bronze piece Ancestors Rising marked Saskatchewan’s centennial at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, while her digital billboard project Warrior Woman: “Stop the Silence” addressed violence against Indigenous women across Saskatchewan. Her works are also held in major public collections, including the Remai Modern, Kamloops Art Gallery, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Saskatchewan Arts Board, and Canada Council Art Bank.
For Longman, Passage Home carries a deep personal meaning and represents a legacy for future generations.
“It’s huge. It’s a lasting legacy that will be here hundreds of years after I’m gone,” she said. “It will continue to educate people for many lifetimes. That’s why I’ve decided I’m only doing public art from here on in, because it makes a lasting impression.”
Education is built into the project itself. Longman is developing a companion website with historical resources on government apprehensions and their impact on children, intended for school groups and educators to use alongside visits to the site.
“It’s about Indigenous people and parents taking care of their own children,” she said. “It’s about creating a space that supports healing, and gives people something that will always be there for them.”
