The Faceless Doll Project

The Faceless Doll Project began in June 2021 as a collaboration between the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre Pikiskwetan Mental Health program and Wahkotowin Seniors program, initiated in response to the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021. This project aimed to foster understanding and healing in the wake of that revelation. Inspired by the initial project that was led by and based on the story of residential school survivor Elder Loretta Parenteau-English, the Pitone Youth Program took on the project in the summer of 2024. Pitone staff members first received teachings from Elder Loretta, including stories of her experiences in residential school and her connection to the Faceless Dolls. Next, a presentation was developed and shared in local high schools. There, students heard the story of Elder Loretta and her connection to the faceless dolls and learned to sew their own dolls. The dolls you now see in this exhibition are a combination of those created during the initial project in 2021, and those created by students and participants throughout the fall and winter of 2024-2025. The eventual next step for the Faceless Doll collection will be to rest in their permanent home in the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre Traditional Healing Garden.

In some Indigenous ways of knowing, including the Blackfoot traditions of Elder Loretta and her family, it is believed that giving a doll a face also gives it a spirit. Creating a face on a doll may unintentionally cause the doll to resemble someone who has passed, potentially disturbing their spirit. By leaving the dolls faceless, we honour and remember both the children who survived residential schools and those who did not make it home, ensuring their spirits are respected and undisturbed. Moreover, children who attended the residential schools were typically stripped of their belongings, and would not have been permitted toys, even dolls. Each of these dolls reminds us not only of the lives lost to the residential school era, but of the childhoods stolen as well: the children deprived of the love and protection of their families, who missed and mourned their absence deeply.

Closing Reception: Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 2-4 pm

Make a Faceless Doll – Community Event
Thursday, January 23
5 – 8 pm
Teresa Sargent Hall
Located within the Montrose Cultural Centre
9839 – 103 Ave, Grande Prairie, AB

View the event on Facebook!

This initiative is a collaboration between the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie and the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre.