Amelia Rempel, a Métis student from Portage La Prairie who has been living in Dauphin for the past year, will head back to the University of the Arts London (UAL) in the United Kingdom in September. The university is the top arts school in the world for undergraduates.
After her first year in which she finished with distinction (the highest mark you can get), Rempel was selected to attend Wimbledon College at UAL where she will specialize in costume design.
For her final project to finish up her first year, Rempel made a dress based off of a character she created called "The Wanderer". With the dress, Rempel hopes to bring more attention to the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
"She (The Wanderer) is cursed to forever walk North America, witnessing the tragedies of these women, and as she walks across North America, the stories are put on to her dress. The dress is made out of the articles I've found on the internet about these women, and as she walks across Canada, her dress just gets heavier and heavier because of how many women have gone missing", explained Rempel.
She also noted that during her time in London, she discovered that a lot of people are unaware of Canada's residential school history. When her dress was one of two to be selected to be put on display, it was seen by over two-million people. Thanks to this, she was given lots of opportunities to spread the knowledge of residential schools in Canada.
"When my dress was on display, I got a lot of people asking me questions on what it's about, and as I was explaining to them, they're like 'oh my goodness that's horrible.' This is something from our past that we can't erase, but we have to acknowledge it in order to move forward."
[Image - "The Wanderer" dress, created by Amelia Rempel]
To graduate your first year at UAL with distinction is no easy accomplishment but Rempel says her family background has helped her a lot.
"When I was younger, my parents and my aunts & uncles would always enter in costume contests every halloween. So they would make their own costumes from scratch about a month before halloween and we would always do it at our house. So I was always around a lot of creativity growing up."
Rempel also mentioned she has always liked drawing and sketching and that she always knew that art was something she wanted to pursue. She was then introduced to the world of cosplay (dressing up as a character in a movie, tv show, or video game) and the passion for making costumes blossomed from there.
"I loved it so much I decided that it was a career I wanted to pursue."
If you want to see the dress and meet the artist, Amelia Rempel, you can do so this thursday (August 24th) at the Métis Community Centre at 101, 11th ave SW in Dauphin, starting at 5:30. Admission is $5 and all proceeds from it will go to Rempel to help her cover tuition and living costs, which are quite high, especially in the UK. Refreshments and a light meal will be served as well.
"The dress will be on display and I'll have a chance to talk about it and what inspired me."
Those who are unable to make it to the event can support Rempel by making a donation to her GoFundMe page.
