About Me

My name is Shawna Bowler and I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I have matrilineal ties to the Red River Metis in Manitoba – our family name is Larence. Through my paternal ancestry, I am a member of Tatanka Najin – Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. Growing up, I was disconnected from culture, community and my identity as a Metis woman. I did not begin the journey of reconnection until I began to teach myself beadwork, following in the footsteps of my Kookum, Phyllis Nabess. Although I never met my Kookum, I was lucky enough to be gifted a beaded necklace that she made which inspired me to take up this practice and incorporate it into my everyday life. Through my beading journey I have come to know my place and purpose within culture, I was able to return to land and community and build a spiritual relationship with my Kookum. I believe her beadwork came to me with the sole purpose of leading me on this journey to reconnect with my culture and identity.

I have also carried my Kookum’s beaded necklace into my social work research. I have been practicing social work throughout urban, rural and northern Manitoba for over 13 years. I recently completed my master’s thesis, “Stitching Ourselves Back Together: Urban Indigenous Women’s Experience of Reconnecting with Identity through Beadwork”, which incorporates my Kookum’s beaded necklace into the process of sharing beading stories in research alongside Metis and Indigenous women. My beading practice continues to evolve as I do. Over the past year, I have ventured into sharing my beadwork with others through the small, online beading shop I created: Shawna’s Bead Box. I love the potential beadwork has to spark conversation when it is worn out in the community. This is where beadwork story-sharing can happen. Beadwork has the power to create space for culture, identity, reconciliation, or decolonization to continue to be part of our conversations and stories.

For me, beadwork is not merely an artistic practice, it is a way of knowing, being and doing. Through the practice of beadwork, we might know and connect to ourselves, our culture, and our ancestors in a much deeper way.