Jackson Beardy, The World at Prayer, 1983 

Surrounding this living Earth are figures that together represent the totality of Creation. The Bear (Makwa) is a symbol of strength, protection, and medicine. Among the Anishinaabe, the Bear Clan traditionally carries responsibilities of healing; here, its presence signals both endurance and the capacity for renewal. Above, the Thunderbird (Animikii) spreads its wings, embodying spiritual power and cosmic order. As a bringer of rain, thunder, and storms, the Thunderbird governs cycles of renewal and ensures balance against destructive forces.

The mural also features flowers and plants, recalling the beadwork traditions that inspired much Woodland painting. These floral motifs speak to the medicines of the Earth, the regenerative power of nature, and the reciprocal relationship humans must maintain with the land. They are both decorative and didactic, reminding viewers of the teachings embedded in plant life.

A man smoking a pipe anchors the human role in this circle of life. The pipe ceremony (opwaagan) carries prayers in smoke to the spirits, affirming truth, reciprocity, and respect for Creation. Beardy situates the pipe-carrier as a mediator: humanity is not outside of the natural order but participates in its sacred rhythm through prayerful engagement. Celestial symbols, read as the sun and moon, frame the composition in cosmic time. They evoke cycles of guidance, renewal, and continuity, reinforcing the balance between earthly and spiritual realms.

By uniting Bear, Thunderbird, flowers, pipe, Earth-heart, stars, and the lines of power that bind them, Beardy constructs a visual theology: the world itself prays when its beings live in balance. Painted in 1983, The World at Prayer exemplifies the Woodland School style that he helped pioneer, a visual language rooted in Anishinaabe and Cree cosmology. For Beardy, a residential school Survivor and member of the Indian Group of Seven, this mural was more than an artwork. It was an act of reclamation—an affirmation that Indigenous ways of seeing and knowing endure and that prayer itself can be expressed through paint, symbol, and story.

Installed in the Boreal Forest Gallery of the Manitoba Museum, The World at Prayer stands as one of Beardy’s most significant public works. Displayed in a museum context that long privileged natural history over Indigenous cosmology, the mural asserts the primacy of the Anishinaabe world view. It transforms a gallery wall into ceremony, asking viewers to see the forest not simply as a resource but as a sacred community.