shthamucun Tote Bag

100% heavy canvas, 12 oz. 20” web canvas handles. 14"W x 16"H. Hand printed in Nanaimo by Mauro Dalla Costa/UFF Screen Printing.

This project honours the goat horn bracelets made by our ancestors in the Coast Salish world. There are only 22 known instances of these bracelets in existence, all sit in museum collections across Canada and the United Kingdom with the majority in the UK. These bracelets are the source of many of the patterns you see in contemporary and the prominent “Salish Eye” which has evolved into a new icon in modern Coast Salish culture. Last year I had the privilege of visiting the bracelets and many other cultural belongings at museums in England. When I held those bracelets and Snuneymuxw belongings in my hands there I felt so remote from my home—as if I might as well have been on another planet. I can only imagine how they feel sitting on shelves for centuries away from their home and their use by our people. I want to bring them back. As an individual artist repatriation goes way over my head; but what I can do is point my finger and instigate conversations about what belongs to us and draw attention to them. That is my intention here and in doing so celebrate the beautiful artistic lineage that we come from as xwulmuxw.