In this Gatherings Roadshow presentation, Madison Francoeur shares a small, circular piece of beadwork—an intricately crafted representation of Edmonton. Through multicoloured beads and a striking blue river cutting through the centre, Francoeur translates a city into a tactile, temporal form: a landscape held in the palm of one’s hand.
The work embodies hours of labour and attention, each bead marking a point of connection between self, land, and history. It is both a personal expression of home and a reflection on being a guest in that place—a recognition of Indigenous land and ongoing relationships of care and responsibility.
By transforming Edmonton into a physical artefact, Francoeur invites us to consider how place might be rendered through touch, texture, and time. How does the land record us, even as we attempt to record it?
