During the Metronauts event in Toronto in April 2008, one of the ideas that caught my attention was the possibility that public transit vehicles and the public transit system more broadly can be considered as a potential space for cultural activities.

Shortly after Metronauts Toronto, I came across an example of public art on public buses which seems to bring to life this possibility. In Winnipeg in the spring of 2008, artist Cheyenne Henry launched Trans Regalia, which is described on the Arts Building Community website as “an act of Indigenous cultural and political reclamation.” The site describes that in this artistic intervention,

Artist Cheyenne Henry reclaims the public transit system in Winnipeg to launch education about urban Aboriginal issues into the public sphere. People dressed in traditional Aboriginal regalia step onto city buses and share personal stories of reclaiming their culture and identity in an urban context. The lines between participant and performer are blurred as both become viewer and viewed, sharing a common experience, a bus ride into Winnipeg’s core. This act of transit reclamation opens possibilities for dialogue and understanding in the inner city.

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