Powerful Symbolism

Within the sunrise glow, cloaked in smoke from the nearby forest fires, sits a pair of juvenile bald eagles. Perched atop telephone poles, with old wires hanging, and below, signs both upon the poles and within the ground. The image may not appear to be that much of anything spectacular, however, the story and the feeling behind the powerful birds here in this spot is. The only objects that remain standing in the now gravel, patchy wild grasses and thorn ridden field are these two poles. The signs, even more easily overlooked than this image, warn, dirty, broken and forgotten. Reading only that of this site, the abandoned field, held St.Bruno’s, Joussard’s Residential School. Now the eagle holds many representations within indigenous communities with consistent relation to connection to spirits and a messenger for them, making their feathers sacred. Witnessing Juvenile eagles here, where so many young people were taken, from their culture, their homes, their families and from this world feels beyond powerful and makes this image so much more meaningful, than simply a couple birds sitting on posts.