Broken Woman

Drawing/Painting by Jessica Przeszlo

Jessica Przeszlo talks about the artwork she donated to the National Inquiry. "My painting is a multidimensional expression of strength and anger. It is dedicated in the honor of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Half of the women’s face is distorted with a glittering series of polygons that appear to be the flowing side of her face. These geometric shapes are rigid and symmetrical, representing the challenges that missing and murdered Indigenous women have faced through their life time. The distorted triangles also represent the unsolved mystery as to why these particular women have been murdered or have gone missing. The regular part of the face represents the beauty and loving side of the women, and that no matter what challenges they have faced, they would never leave their family’s intentionally. Some women go through a multitude of obstacles and challenges, having them believe that suicide could be an option of something less intolerable after death. It is essential that we remember who these women are and to keep them all in our hearts. These women have been marginalized from society based on their identity. The isolation that these women have faced is presented in the distorted pieces on the painting, resembling masked emotions as they were never heard and are still not heard as the truth to their missing and murdered cases have not been justified."