'For Seven Generations'

For Seven Generations

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Whiskyjack was always stealing the food of the People. When they questioned him about how he always knew where to find their food, he replied “Ah, it is because the Earth is my plate and one should know how to clean their own plate.” One can see Whiskyjack holding onto his bounty as he looks over his shoulder at the gazing man. In the large circle below him is the Earth...sky, land and water. But today, Whiskyjack has another message for all of us...in his declining numbers. Due to climate change, his winter food stores are now spoiling before spring and he is starving. He tells us, firstly, that humankind’s tendency to take too much from the plate of the Earth causes these changes in the seasons. And secondly, that we must remember to think beyond our own welfare and ensure the well-being of the next seven generations, represented by the seven red berries. 

(This piece is dedicated to the late Mr. Lorne Fleece, who many years ago first brought the original Whiskyjack story from the Abitibi region to my attention...and who wondered aloud what could become of it at the tip of my drawing pen. I hope he would be pleased with the result.)