Ala'toq “carry with you.” 2026









Title: Ala'toq “carry with you.”

Material: Photo transfer on birch bark, deer hide and beads.

Date: 2026



Phonetics: (Ala’toq”) A·laa·dohk

Ala'toq ("carry with you") is a series of five sculptural works made from family photographs transferred onto birch bark, backed with leather and edged with red beadwork.

Drawing from family archive and Mi'kmaq relationships to the birch tree, the work brings together different ways that memory is held and carried. Birch bark is not used simply as a support for the images and quillwork; it carries its own histories, knowledge, and presence.

The photographs are drawn from a family archive, while the bark speaks to kinship beyond the human family. Placing these materials together acknowledges relationships between ancestors, land, and all living beings.

Ala'toq, meaning "carry with you," points to the stories, teachings, and relationships that move across generations. The work suggests that memory also resides within the land itself, held by the beings and materials that accompany us through life.



”I am talking about the stories I carry because they have been passed on through my blood, encoded in my DNA. My fellow Turtle Jani Lauzon uses the phrase, “Our bodies are our books.” I would build on that thought to say your bodies are our libraries- fully reference in memory, an endless resource, a giant database of stories. Some we lived, some were passed on, some dreamt, some forgotten, some we are aware of, dormant, awaiting the key that will realize them”- Monique Mojica Stories from the body, blood memory and organic texts (99)” -Stories from the Body, Blood Memory and Organic Text written by Monique Mojica