Photo by: Nadya Kwandibens / Artist: Celeste Pedri-Spade & Evan Ducharme Studio

NDN Rose

Featured in: Sovereign Matriarchs

Collection by:

Almost 50 years ago, Celeste’s family lost a matriarch. Her name was Rose, and she was the great-grandmother Celeste only knew through stories and dreams. Celeste’s grandmother’s death was untimely and unnatural in one of the most notoriously violent and racist cities in Canada. Her departure from this world sent Celeste’s family into a tailspin. Rose’s absence burned an almost irreparable hole in many hearts; Grandmother was an anchor and a compass for her children and grandchildren. Over the last two decades, intergenerational trauma and grief have started to lift. In passing on Grandmother’s name, Rose, to their children, Celeste and her cousins have been healing in their roles as mothers. This collection is about Celeste’s family’s ability and collective resolve to emerge and reclaim their faith in themselves as descendants of grandma Rose. NDN Rose is an honour song to Celeste’s great grandmother, Rose, and her grandmother, mother, aunts and cousins who have found new life, purpose and good medicine in their daughters and grandbabies. Each look in this collection is named after the latest generation of kwewag in Celeste’s family, including her daughter.