An ice sculpture dedicated to the memory of Neil Stonechild was vandalized and had to be removed from outside the Remai Modern art gallery.
The sculpture, Freeze, was created by Canadian Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore and Osvaldo Yero. It featured large ice blocks with the name STONECHILD etched inside.
Remai Modern says security footage from the gallery shows a passerby kicking one of the ice blocks, damaging the sculpture.
This happened last week, but the sculpture was taken down yesterday out of respect for the Stonechild family, according to a news release issued late Tuesday afternoon.
“Remai Modern is honoured to have presented Freeze in Saskatoon and to have listened to the important conversations it catalyzed,” the release stated.
Neil Stonechild, a Saulteaux First Nations teenager, was found dead on the outskirts of the city in 1990 as a result of hypothermia. An inquiry found that Stonechild had been in the custody of two Saskatoon police officers on the night he disappeared.
