By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Community rallies to help restore vandalized art piece

Jun 20, 2017 | 12:21 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Sarah Russell says she was mad and laughing at the same time.

May 20 was the last time the University of Lethbridge student saw her public artwork intact — 150 rocks painted white, arranged in a symbol for unity. Three days later, she drove down the hill from the west side and saw the rocks on the coulee overlooking Fort Whoop-Up, rearranged by vandals into a crude image.

But one month later, the symbol, which incorporates a circle and inverted triangle, has again taken form. Dozens of volunteers responded to a call to help Russell restore her art piece Tuesday, June 20, painting rocks and passing them, hand-to-hand, in a chain up the side of the hill. The rocks are white so they can be seen from the university campus.

“I don’t know if I can put it into words, but that’s what helped me get up this morning,” Russell said. “People going out of their way to use their time and energy to be here. It really means a lot. It’s a gift, actually.”

Russell explained it wasn’t necessarily the image that upset her, as much as that the vandals used the 150 rocks she had worked hard to take up the hill originally. Approximately 50 had messages of encouragement painted on them by Aboriginal students from G.S. Lakie School.

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She had sought permission from the Blackfoot elder who created the symbol, to unite all humans.

“It has to do with the Blackfoot Confederacy, but I wanted it to represent human beings because we forget that we’re human beings and put labels on ourselves, and we expect ourselves to live up to those labels,” Russell added. “But in reality we all have feelings, we all have emotions, and we all go through physical challenges, spiritual challenges, you know. So I wanted to make my project emotionally, physically, mentally challenging for those reasons.”

Russell said she forgives the people who altered her original work. The support she has received since then is what she’s focused on.

“For the elders, they always say, the greatest gift anybody could give you – it’s not money, it’s their time and energy. And that’s what the community brought to me.

“Lethbridge, I’ve lived here my whole life, and to experience this — I’ll always talk good about Lethbridge. There is community, because they showed me there is community.”