Ndíthäk | I hear you
by Lianne Charlie
When I think about my identity as a Northern Tutchone woman who has grown up away from her homelands and largely within a mainstream, urban setting, collage helps me reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable. Collage creates a space where home/away, insider/outsider, new/old, native/non-native, city/bush can exist is productive juxtaposition. In reality, I struggle with these dichotomies. They are riddled with judgement, pain, loss and disconnection. We left the Yukon—the home of my ancestors—when I was six years old. Although I have visited numerous times since, when I move there in a year, it will be the first time in my adult life that I will live there. While I am very excited about returning to the Yukon, I realize that it will not come without its challenges.
