Survivor Truths: The Art of Reconciliation

These artworks, produced by students at the Alberni Indian Residential School in the late 1950s and early 1960s, reveal the children’s individuality, experiences and the memories that they chose to paint. Created as part of an extracurricular art class taught by Robert Aller, they embody both his teaching style and the children’s own self-expression, creativity and experience. Many of Aller’s students noted that he sought to teach them how to paint, not what to paint; he encouraged them to paint places, people, or natural elements that had meaning to them. Each of these paintings offers unique insights if one pays close attention to details, from the brush strokes and colour choices to the subject matter.

Aller often asked his students if he could keep samples of their artworks. Many of these pieces sat carefully stored until 2008, when they were donated to the University of Victoria. Sit with them, study them closely. Think about the young person — between 6 and 12 years old — who made this. Look for signs of their individual creativity and style. What kind of places, animals, plants or things are depicted? What do you notice about the colours? The brush strokes? Can you imagine painting in a similar way? Think about these questions as you look closely at each painting, then learn a bit more about what each artist remembered about them in the Survivor Stories section.