In My Words: Jackie Halstead

Jackie Halstead is a multidisciplinary artist in Ontario. Today, she shares two pieces of her art – “Violet” in honour of her mother, and “The White Sheet” in honour of her mentor. Jackie’s mother passed away from ALS 25 years ago. While navigating life with ALS, both Jackie and her mother felt immensely supported and grateful for their caregiving team – a sentiment that Jackie still holds.

This painting, called “Violet,” was named after my mother, Violet, who was a Jamaican lady in every way. This painting was inspired by a photograph I saw in Vogue magazine, and when I saw it, I thought of my mother. The clothesline I added reminded me of my childhood growing up with my mother. My mother didn’t have a fancy job title (she was a glass inspector at a bottle factory), but because of her, I was exposed to a lot of art and culture growing up. In fact, I see her as my first art teacher. My mother, when she wasn’t working, was baking, gardening, beautifying our home or upholstering furniture, which was one of her hobbies.

Someone asked me the other day what I learned from my mother. There are many things, but I can tell you three. My mother taught me to work hard, dress well, and be on time, which has served me well as an adult.

My mother having ALS was pretty devastating for all of the family because she was and still is the most popular person in my family. But my mother, the responsible woman that she was, had everything covered when she had ALS. We got a lot of support from Sunnybrook Hospital, led by Dr. Cashman and his team. My mother had around-the-clock caregivers that she paid for, and we had a lovely occupational therapist and social worker who all took a lot of responsibility off of me. Because I was not the main caregiver, I gave my mother a surprise birthday party, and two weeks later she died. I think God put that idea in my heart to have that party for my mother. She died in my arms as I was giving her mouth-to-mouth. True story.

She died almost 25 years ago, but I remember her every day. She was a phenomenal woman, and I miss her a lot.

My work is inspired by fashion and Black life, particularly exploring themes associated with Black womanhood. The “White Sheet” was bought by Dr. Cledie Taylor, who recently passed away at 100 years old. She was a mentor, friend, and like a grandmother to me. Dr. Taylor had been a collector of my work for over 30 years. She taught art in the Detroit public school system for 42 years and owned arguably the oldest Black gallery called Arts Extended Gallery in the United States.

With love,

Jackie

“In My Words” is an ALS Canada story series illustrating life impacted by ALS through first-person storytelling. Whether that’s through the written word, audio, art, music, etc., community members will share their experience in their own way.