Speplól Tanya Zilinski
We don’t need your constitution, 2025
Healing Blanket, 2022
Speplól Tanya Zilinski uses her loom-beaded tapestries to reflect on their own identity and worldview as products of complicated histories.
We don’t need your constitution is an assemblage of artifacts that represent a history of colonial oppression: The Hudson’s Bay blanket and glass beads were once traded by white settlers for Indigenous lands; ten-dollar bills issued in 2013 feature the portrait of John A. Mcdonald who displaced numerous Indigenous communities to build a railway; and the artist’s own Red River Nation ID card is a reminder of the racist laws that continue to govern Indigenous Peoples in Canada. These artifacts are covered by a layer of transparent glass beads to disrupt colonial narratives and invite visitors to view them through an Indigenous lens.
Rising above this visual narrative of oppression is a loom-beaded Healing Blanket depicting a creation story in which life is balanced and sustained by 7 Gandfather Teachings: honesty, courage, truth, respect, humility, wisdom, and love. The blanket, which took more than 2000 hours to complete, is sewn onto British melton wool, transforming a symbol of empire into a site of Indigenous resistance, self-expression, and healing.
About the Artist
Speplól Tanya Zilinski is a visual artist, Halq'eméylem teacher, and matriarch of their family. They were born on the stolen lands of the Chowethel People, Ts'qó:ls, known to settlers today as “Hope, B.C”, where they live today. They are a member of The Red River Nation in Manitoba, with family and ancestral ties to Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, and Huron-Wendat Nations throughout Turtle Island's Plains and Great Lakes Regions on their maternal side and Ukrainian heritage on their paternal side. Speplól, meaning Little Crow, is one of their traditional names which was given to them at the age of 14.
Speplól uses traditional loom beadwork as their medium, and their practice focuses on exploring cultural identity and passing on cultural teachings. Speplól’s work connects them to their Ancestors and serves as a daily tincture to cure the body and mind.
This project was made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, to whom the artist extends their sincere gratitude.