Join us at the Kamloops Art Gallery for an interactive guided tour of the exhibition, Johnny Bandura: The 215 Le Estcwicwéy̓ (“the Missing”), and engage in conversation with peers and KAG educators.

Through 215 portraits, Johnny Bandura honours le Estcwicwéy̓, the missing children whose graves were confirmed at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021, and imagines who the children may have become had they survived to adulthood. The faces are rendered in black and white to reference the absence of the children’s lives, while splashes of color emphasize ornamentation and dress that imagine the children’s futures. Some are depicted in traditional Indigenous regalia while others are painted in the clothing and uniforms of everyday occupations, including teachers, delivery drivers, office workers, and chefs. Others are celebrated as artists, musicians, mimes, and clowns.

Johnny Bandura began painting these portraits as a therapeutic process. He felt compelled to respond to the findings as his grandmother was a Residential School survivor from Kamloops and Bandura remains connected to family in the region.

This program is offered in collaboration with the Kamloops Adult Learners’ Society (KALS). You must be a member of KALS to participate.

Registration is available online at kals.ca/registration/.

Johnny Bandura
Desert Warrior, 2021
oil on canvas
28 x 43 cm