hišcpaa - on both sides
Victoria Arts Council
2022
The Illustrated London News published an article in 1864 titled, “A conflict with the Indians of Vancouver Island.” The article highlights two etchings – one of a burning village, another they label “Indian with a Flag of Truce” – alongside a detailed account of the burning of an Indigenous village in Clayoquot Sound. Rather than a symbol of ‘truce’, the second image actually depicts a Tla-o-qui-aht man with a downward facing paddle – in Nuu-chah-nulth a sign of war.
Nuu-chah-nulth artist Hjalmer Wenstob, from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations of Clayoquot Sound, and settler artist Carly Butler, living in Ucluelet on the traditional territory of the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation, have used these historical etchings as a starting point for an ongoing conversation and collaborative process about land, ownership, and histories.
