Reconciliation Graphics for Positionality-Based Solidarity: Melaney Gleeson-Lyall and Chinatown Wonders’ Multilingual Thunderbird the Protector

Abstract

This paper examines how graphics associated with Orange Shirt Day in Canada can cultivate a positional mode of solidarity through analyzing the trilingual graphic Thunderbird the Protector (2023) by Musqueam artist Melaney Gleeson-Lyall and Vancouver-based vendor Chinatown Wonders. Research investigates how settler practices of solidarity for Indigenous issues can more deeply engage with Canadians whose diasporic identities are shaped by racialization throughout Canada’s settler-state history. This paper employs the term ‘reconciliation graphics’ to examine the artwork’s effects beyond, but still in response to, the designated event and objectives of Orange Shirt Day. Through drawing historical and sociopolitical parallels between the Musqueam people and Chinese-Canadian settlers on Musqueam territories, visual analysis of Thunderbird the Protector, and positional and autoethnographic evaluation, I argue that reconciliation graphics that bring visibility to a multicultural consciousness mobilize a solidarity authenticated by the wearer’s cultural resonance.