Artist: Merill Comeau
Title:
Attribution: Acadian Diaspora
Year: 2024
Materials: materials: repurposed textiles, paint, stencil ink, threads. methods: composting, stenciling, hand and machine stitching
Dimensions: 88hx78w
Image Statement: Acadie 4 gives visual voice to my ancestral Acadian roots and colonial history. The Acadian colony in Nova Scotia provided a possible democratic model for European settlers co-existing with aboriginal peoples peacefully and in mutually beneficial collaboration and co-habitation. After over 100 years as an independent settlement, Acadians declared themselves neutral in the French-English war over ‘ownership’ of Canada. They refused to bear arms for or against both European countries and refused to bear arms against aboriginal peoples. They were subjected to mass genocide and banishment by English authorities. The Acadian diaspora is evidenced in French speaking towns in Maine and the Cajuns of Louisiana. Eventually some settlers were allowed to return to Nova Scotia with the agreement they did not return to their homes; these descendants can be found in small towns of Nova Scotia. Comeauville is where my relatives re-settled.