Indigenous Medicinal Plant Drawing Series

SIM Center Red River College, Winnipeg MB

In 2024 the construction of the new simulation center for training nurses (SIM) was completed at the Red River College Notre Dame campus in Winnipeg. As part of this new wing, the architect and building project teams wanted to go one step further to create a health environment that both highlights the progression of modern medicine and the importance of Indigenous Medicine that so much of today’s practices and products derive from. They decided the best way to create this impact was through art.

I was commissioned to draw six Indigenous medicinal plants traditionally used for centuries by First Nation and Metis Peoples. The six focused on the prairies stretching up North and are still used today. Red Willow, Sage, Sweetgrass, Saxifrage, Cedar and Labrador Tea are common and part of the landscape we experience everyday. However my drawing technique of close scrutinization transforms these ordinary plants into extraordinary forms of shape and color that transcend reality.

The original 32” x 40” drawings themselves are just a part of the process yet the intense detail is imperative as each drawing will be enlarged into vinyl wallpaper panels spanning 9’ x 25’ walls, one for each area. Their presence will be undeniable to nurses, doctors, visitors and patients alike, and act as a constant reminder of the power of the natural world that Indigenous Peoples have been learning and passing on through history and how state of the art medicine is never far from its predecessors.