Epiphany and St. Mark, Parkdale has installed a permanent Indigenous art installation in its worship space, created by Mohawk artist Merlin Homer and dedicated by the Rev. Dr. Jason McKinney on Aug. 24, 2025.
“For a long time, I wanted to forefront an Indigenous, female presence within the interior of an Anglican Church. I have called this a Grandmothers Chapel,” writes Homer. “This hope has been manifested, and it is beautiful.”
Reconciliation looks at Christianity and the Indigenous spiritual traditions of the land called Canada and sees that they have been in contrast with, and at tragic odds with, each other. Christianity stems from the Abrahamic world view, in which the creator of all is assumed to have a special relationship with human beings. Contemporary Christianity also has roots in a European world that has been largely patriarchal and misogynistic. In contrast, Indigenous traditions place high value on women and the feminine as creative and life giving. In these traditions, the creator of all is seen to have equal and full relationships with all beings, human as well as plant and animal.
The upsetting history of the meeting of these two traditions is well known and does not need repeating here. The Grandmothers Chapel invites us to something different — to see the two traditions not as antagonists but as complementary, able to create wholeness within each of us and with our world, our oneness and equality with all God’s creation. The equality of Woman with Man.
In the Grandmothers Chapel we find three grandmothers, and among them a stained-glass vision of Mary as the Madonna of the Wheat that seems to have been waiting for them. Many scholars agree that this representation of Mary harkens to ancient portrayals of the sacred feminine. It is as if our Madonna of the Wheat has been waiting for her mother and grandmothers to come to her.
Grandmother Moon
Our Grandmother Moon is a feminine figure deeply associated with the waters. She creates the tides in the seas and oceans and within all women, who are connected with the waters. From the waters of the moon within women, all new human life emerges. Grandmother Moon is paradox, light in darkness or, in the case of an eclipse, darkness in light. Stillness and vibrant power at once.
In our painting of Grandmother Moon, we see the quiet power of her darkness, which still allows light. We see her in her waters, luminous and female, illuminating the waters with the colours of the night. We can feel great stillness and great power.
Grandmother Hannah
The painting of Grandmother Hannah (St. Anne) shows her holding the infant Miriam (Mary). St. Anne is honoured as the grandmother of Jesus of Nazareth.
Our St. Anne is surrounded by echoes of the luminous moon in the waters of the Grandmother Moon painting. This birth of a daughter is presented as emerging from the depths of creation. This is a story of long ago and far away, being repeated here on Turtle Island. Baby Mary is dressed in Mary’s traditional blue. Around mother and child we see a symbolic representation of all creation, the four directions, the four colours of the medicine wheel. Here, to suggest the power and protectiveness of life, the colours are represented as living flowers, drawn in the woodland Indian style.
Roses are said to be the flowers associated with both Mary and Anne, white and red. Here those colours are combined in a circle of wild roses, showing the natural capacity of our land to hold and honour holiness. The colour green is also associated with St. Anne. Here it is depicted as the living green of the Earth, sacred in itself. Surrounding all, a turquoise necklace, protection to the newborn and carrying the meaning of the connection between the sky and the waters.
Looking at this painting, we rest in the assurance that in the vastness of creation, we are always held.
Grandmother Spider
The third painting is of Grandmother Spider. Spiders always have something to tell us, with their beautiful, hopeful webs, spun with endless patience and perseverance. Grandmother Spider is a figure of incarnation and mystery. These words accompany her: Giving birth to the world, she lives within it.
Three swans fly at the centre of this painting. Grace, beauty and spiritual significance, messengers of faith, flying free within the web of life. Guides to self-awareness and transformation.
Submitted by Epiphany and St. Mark, Parkdale.
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