The late Anishinaabe artist Michael ‘Cy’ Cywink painted hundreds of murals across Ontario over his lifetime, gaining international recognition for his vibrant use of colour and symbolism, and his passion for mentoring youth.
Now, his legacy is being remembered in a new documentary film called The Creation Story of Michael ‘Cy’ Cywink premiering Sunday for National Indigenous Peoples Day at the Blyth Festival Art Gallery in Huron County, Ont., along with an art show of 50 pieces of his work.
Cywink died last month at 71 years old, just weeks before the film’s premiere.
Filmmaker Cory Bilyea, a member of Six Nations of the Grand River and founder of EagleEye Media Productions, started documenting Cywink’s story with him seven years ago with a dream of making her first film, she said.
“Mike really encouraged me to follow that dream and he provided me the opportunity,” said Bilyea, a journalist who lives in Wingham, Ont.
“I’m so honoured that he trusted me with this project, and I’m so honoured that we were able to see it through — but I’m devastated that he died just weeks before our dream because he was so excited for this show,” she said.
Cywink is the uncle to another popular mural artist with the same name in southwestern Ontario, she said. He also wrote a book called The Adventures of Crazy Turtle.
He has painted more than 300 murals in Ontario, including about 50 murals in schools across the province including Guelph, Sarnia and his hometown of Espanola. Many were funded through the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Indigenous artists in communities and schools projects, Bilyea said.
Cywink is from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island and spent much of his life living in Espanola, Ont., west of Sudbury.
The film captures his personal mission to break down cultural walls and preserve Indigenous oral traditions, she said.
Bilyea, a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, first met Cywink in the 1980s in Toronto where he was a youth mentor, she said, at a time she felt lost and was looking for direction.
“We were all just learning how to be Indigenous. His mentorship and his love got me through some of my darkest times,” she said. “From the beginning, right up to the end, that’s what he did. That was his mission to reach as many youth as he could.”
He taught youth how to heal with colour, and transform emotions such as anger and frustration into art, she said. The Seven Grandfather Teachings meant everything to him, and he continued mentoring youth until his last days in hospital.
His teachings have helped her through her grief, she said.
“Just being able to sit and hear him talk through this film, it’s like he’s still right here guiding me, connecting me, helping me get through this,” said Bilyea.
Bilyea was drawn to storytelling as a vehicle to share more stories of Indigenous people she’s met along her journey.
“I saw a lot of people pass away … who had a story to tell, but nobody to tell it, nobody to give them the platform,” she said. “It was Mike’s wish that he just wanted to share his stories.”
The Creation Story of Michael ‘Cy’ Cywink is premiering on Sunday, June 21 and 28 at the Blyth Festival Art Gallery with the screening at Blyth Memorial Hall. The art show will be on display until July 11.
