© Courtesy of Sacred Fire Productions
NADINE ST-LOUIS, FOUNDER, SACRED FIRE PRODUCTIONS
We live in an age of extraordinary connection, yet we have perhaps never been so disconnected from the source of our existence. Technology has transformed how we communicate, consume, and experience the world, often distancing us from the origins of the things that surround us—the hands that made them, the materials they came from, and, ultimately, the Earth that sustains them.
Indigenous worldviews offer another way of understanding our place in the world, not as separate from nature, but as part of an intricate web of relationships. The Earth is not simply a resource. Water is not simply a commodity. The natural world is alive with memory, knowledge, and responsibility. Art has the power to bring us back into that relationship.
As Elder Dr. Duke Redbird, O.C., writes in his opening reflections for Rooted Intentions:
“Art was a medicine long before it became a commodity.”
WHEN ART BECOMES CEREMONY
That understanding is at the heart of Rooted Intentions: When Art Becomes Ceremony, an eco-art exhibition by Dene-Cree multidisciplinary artist Veronica Johnny, presented at Sacred Fire Productions Cultural Space in Montréal until November 1, 2026.
Through natural materials, photography, moving images, and teachings passed down through generations, Veronica Johnny transforms the gallery into a space for reflection. Stones, fossils, branches, and other elements of the natural world are not treated merely as artistic materials but as relations that carry stories, memory, and meaning. The invitation is simple but profound: slow down, listen, and reconsider how we belong to the Earth.
On September 8, 2026, this message took on greater significance when Sacred Fire Productions Cultural Space welcomed the launch of the inaugural Montréal Climate Week alongside the opening of Rooted Intentions.
As Kanahsohon Deer, President of Sacred Fire Productions, reminds us:
“The land has always been our first mother and teacher. When we listen to her through interpreting various natural signs and by truly listening to one another with love and respect, we build a stronger future for everyone. We are proud to stand alongside Montréal Climate Week in advancing solutions rooted in Indigenous knowledge, collaboration, and our shared responsibility to care for the Earth.”
RESTORING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EARTH
The convergence was fitting. Responding to climate change requires science, technology, and policy, but sustainable futures also require a transformation in consciousness. We cannot protect what we experience if we view it only as a commodity. We protect what we recognize as belonging to us.
Indigenous artists and cultural practitioners have carried this understanding through generations. Their practices hold relationships between territory, language, ancestry, community, and those yet to come. In this way, the creative act becomes an act of continuity, a reminder that our relationship with the Earth is not abstract but lived.
Perhaps this is one of the greatest contributions the arts can make to reconciliation with our Mother Earth: helping us remember.
Remember that water is life. That the land carries history. That our choices extend beyond ourselves. And that sustainability is not simply something we achieve through better technology; it begins with restoring relationship.
When art becomes ceremony, we are invited to look. We are invited to listen. And when we listen, the Earth has much to teach us.
Learn more at sacredfireproductions.ca
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The mission of Sacred Fire Productions is to establish bridges between Indigenous artists and audiences of all ages and backgrounds, including in urban areas, so that these artists can assert themselves, develop and better live from their art.