Ainu Stories at Japan House

The Ainu are a Japanese indigenous people living mainly in Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture of Japan. They have lived for centuries in the north of Japan, not only in Hokkaido but also in northern Honshu, Karafuto (which the Ainu call Sakhalin) and the Kuril islands. Their language is unrelated to Japanese and Ainu culture is very distinct from Wajin, or ethnic Japanese.

Trailer for Ainu Stories at Japan House

communication + connection = community

wonder | wander | women love the beauty of well applied language - painting vivid images, evoking deep sentiments, capturing the subtlest nuances - the eloquence of a story well told. 

Illustrated by Okalinichenko

Mahala is more interested and fluid when it comes to learning other languages. Issa is bound more by the native tongues we were born to and raised around - English, Hiligaynon, Tagalog. Together we thrive on a rich world of words, nourished and fed in these created universes. 

Illustrated by Okalinichenko

Reading "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country" by gifted American author Louise Erdrich validates and vindicates our obsession. Moving to another country has magnified the ache and longing we have always had - displaced back home and more so now that we have relocated.

an eloquent and lovely memoir by Louise Erdrich

The ancient souls of modern art: Musée du Quai Branly

The Paris museum of indigenous culture, Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, was created to showcase the art and artefacts of non-Western civilisations. In the classical art paradise of Paris, visitors tend to focus on European painters and cultural history, and less on the cultures that heavily influenced modern movements like Cubism and Impressionism.

Gallery Indigena & indie art

On a recent visit to Canada, wonder | wander | women blogged about the Inuit art featured at the AGO in Toronto.

WoaWomen Urra in Stratford, Ontario

Before we even set foot at the AGO though, we had fallen in love with much of the First Nations arts and crafts exhibited in Gallery Indigena in Stratford.

Gallery Indigena - Stratford, Ontario