Nelson International Mural Festival 2019
The Nelson Mural Festival is located in Nelson, BC. Due east of the Arrow Lakes on the shore of the Kootenay River in traditional Syilx Territories and traditional home of the syilx and sn̓ʔa̓yckstx peoples. Made possible through the work and dedication of the Nelson & District Arts Council, the mural festival is a celebration of art from all local, national, international street artists.
2019 I reached out to the organizers and expressed my interest in creating a mural that would represent our syilx and sn̓ʔa̓yckstx peoples as these are my ancestral roots.
The submission was based upon a body of work that I had recently created for a solo exhibition. I dublicated the first canvas of the exhibit and recreated it on the 30' x 60' wall on the parkade building behind the Hume Hotel.
"Nkw?ast - Deep Water" acrylic canvas 4' x 4' 2017
“How Coyote Broke the Dam” as told by Long Thresa (Tee-qualt), a captikwl that has been shared and retold by many of the Syilx People is a story that tells of the introduction of N’tyxtix (Salmon) into the Okanagan. At a time when the People were suffering from starvation Senklip (Coyote) stepped forward to save the People. The Columbia River had been dammed by Monster-deities, the Snipe sisters. This prevented N’tyxtix from reaching the People. Senklip being sly as he was tricked the Snipe sisters and broke the dam. He lead the N’tyxtix up river to the people. Senklip later brought N’tyxtix back dow the Columbia and created Kettle Falls so that the People would have a place to fish for N’tyxtix. Since that day People from many tribes travelled there to harvest fish.
This piece is a reinterpretation of the captikwl, although in this day and time the monster-deities who have dammed the Columbia River are the Army of Engineers Corps and the energy corporations. In a time where the People are impoverished, the master-deities are flourishing by controlling the life blood of the People. Profits generated from the allocation of lands and resources have not been shared with the People, just as the Snipe sisters hoarded the Salmon for them selves the corporations have now starved the People leaving them impoverished. We see Senklip in the background looking on from a distance at the “monster deite” a representation of the corporate structures that continue to kill N’tyxtix and the People.
