Mohawk Institute Former Residential School Museum: A Site of National Conscience
Graphic Layouts / Artwork
(In-house with WeatherstonBruer Associates; with designer David Beyer)
Photos: Alex Heidbuechel
Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2025 marked the opening of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ontario, now operated by the Woodland Cultural Centre as a permanent historic site and museum dedicated to truth-telling, learning, and healing. One of the country’s longest-running residential “schools”, in 2013 its Survivors and the local community voted to “Save the Evidence”: preserve the building so that the stories of its history could be shared.
Led by Institute Survivors and Indigenous advisors Tim Johnson and Rick Hill, WeatherstonBruer Associates, in collaboration with Lord Cultural Resources, developed a design that respects the building as an artifact while centring the voices and experiences of the Survivors.
My role in the project was to build, in collaboration with designer David Beyer, the hundreds of graphics integrated into the building and its scenography, across four floors: quotations etched into tabletops and floors, suspended scrims, artifacts interpreted in situ, interpretive panels, and murals featuring archival photography, timelines, and custom maps.
The concept work for this project began many years ago; within this span of time, some of the school’s Survivors passed away. Coupled with an abhorrent surge of Residential School denialism in recent years, the project is vital in its mission to “Save the Evidence” and act as an “International Site of Conscience”.
One of the custom maps created for the exhibit; in this case showing all residential “schools” in the country and inviting Survivors to indicate the locations that impacted their families