More than their tragedy; Remembering MMIW through Shades of our Sisters

It's been 25 years since Sonya Cywink went missing and her body was found at the Southwold Earthworks in Elgin County with signs of trauma. She was 31 years old and pregnant at the time.

Cywink is one of the woman being honoured by Shine the Light this year, a campaign from the London Abused Women's Centre aimed at raising awareness about domestic violence. 

To mark this, Fanshawe College is hosting the Shades of our Sisters installation, an exhibit aimed at showcasing who Cywink was before she was killed. 

"The tragedy of Sonya and the death on Sonya was very traumatic, but she had a whole life before that," said her sister, Meggie Cywink, who along with her family and students from Ryerson University co-created the installation three years ago.

"This is like a snapshot of different times and experiences through her life," she added.

"As people come in and interact with the installation, we hope they realize that these women are more than just numbers," said Leah Marshall, Fanshawe's sexual violence prevention advisor, who alongside the First Nations student advisor Chris Hannah, decided to bring the installation to campus.   

"When we talk about the large number of missing and murdered indigenous women, a number is sometimes just a number and it's very challenging for people to view each of those numbers as an individual," added Hannah.

Hannah suggests that as people get to know who Sonya was, they'll be able contextualize the gravity of the issue. 

The installation, which has stopped in several cities across Ontario, features a few areas where people can read some of the many letters and poems Cywink wrote throughout her life. There's also an interactive space that allows those in attendance to see short video clips that Cywink's family made of the different places and experiences they shared with Sonya. 

"People tend to only remember the really tragic moments, but we have to understand that these women and girls around the country had more, they had a bigger life, they had a meaningful life that they lived before the tragedy," Cywink said.  

She adds that for her, the installation has been essential to her own healing process.

"This doesn't make me sad, it gives me hope that others can remember their loved ones in a positive way," she said. 

While Cywink's sister's case remains unsolved, she's hopeful that exhibits like this can shed light on violence against women and prevent this happening to more Canadians.  

The Shades of our Sisters installation will be on display at Fanshawe College until Friday, Nov. 8.