This multifaceted exhibition explores Jannuska’s new path towards making artwork that delves into Indigenous healing through one’s own culture and spirituality for both Jannuska herself and that of others. ‘Mending with Tradition’ focuses on the personal stories of growth and perseverance of three Indigenous women that she looks up to– Debbie Huntinghawk, Julia Stoneman, and Grace Masse. The show explores themes of motherhood, community, ceremony, the Red Road, grief, and self-exploration. ‘The Wolf and the Eagle in the Rain’ mixed-media comic has enabled Jannuska the ability to create a visual language for how she views the beautiful intricacies of Indigenous spirituality and healing while exploring a comic storytelling format that can reach people beyond that of an exhibition space.

The use of mixed media including a blend of beadwork, painting, textile work elements, and drawing allows exploration through technique, texture, and color. Jannuska uses realistic portraiture, expressive mark making, and contrast between the empty/cold and the busy/colorful compositions. This helps depict times of difficulty in contrast to times of growth and female empowerment. She uses painstaking attention to detail and time put in the drawings of faces and stylized elements as a cathartic way for her to relate to the themes of loss, addiction, and cancer and the effect it has had on her life/family member’s lives. The beadwork being tacked down meticulously, and the careful hand stitching of the canvas pieces speak to the tradition of Indigenous ancestor’s hand sewing everything they needed. There is an unfinished quality to using unstretched canvas and exploring with other fabrics shown in the fragility of the fraying edges, and the gentle hand and care that goes into creating with and storing it. This relates to the relationship one has with their femininity, and their self-care and love.

 This is a living exhibition that will continue to grow overtime with the third chapter installment and the completion of a community beading group artwork in Brandon, MB. This exhibition is rooted in the Brandon community having grown from relationships made while Jannuska completed her BFA at Brandon University and from joining the Brandon University Beading Babes group. There she met Debbie, Grace, Julia and Knowledge Keepers and Elders Frank Tacan, Debra Tacan, and Barb Blind who also make appearances in the comic.