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Narrative

Between the drawings is a handwritten poem: "And from time to time thli'maksti falls from Taa'winisim and colliding with a new-born baby exiting his mother's body strikes life into that child and yet again a new cycle is begun anew, afresh, like never before and like it has always been. Tears of pain beget Tears of joy."

Description

A pencil drawing and a poem on a dark tan coloured bookmark. The front-side of the bookmark is a hand-drawn image of a human-like being and a hand-printed poem. At the top of the front-side, a grey star is drawn. Below, the face of a human-like being is directed downwards towards the bottom of the bookmark. The being has a large curled nose, thick lips, a pierced ear, a heavily shaded brow ridge, and a flat cone-shaped forehead decorated with small asterisks. A snake-like arm(?) extends from the being's forehead towards its nose; at the end of the arm is a human-like hand with an ovoid. A dashed line extends from the being's hand, through the lines of text, to the drawing at the bottom edge. At the bottom, an unclosed ring with rounded ends encircles a creature with a wavy tongue. Between the two drawings is the handwritten poem. The reverse-side of the bookmark is machine printed in black ink. At the top, an image of two people sitting and reading with their legs on a window ledge, is printed between two block pyramids. Below is the bookstore's name, "The Corner Bookstore," and commercial information.

History Of Use

These 62 small works (3223/1-62) comprise a collection of drawings in pencil, ink, pencil crayon, and felt pen made by the artist between the years 1968 and 2015. During that period the artist has identified himself by the following names: Ron Hamilton; Hupquatchew; Ki-ke-in; Kwayatsapalth; Chuuchkamalthnii; and Haa’yuups. The drawings are, for the most part, applied to the backs of bookmarks acquired from a range of bookshops; some are applied to other pieces of paper or cutouts from his earlier silkscreen prints. Many of the images represent killer whales, often in conjunction with accoutrements and symbols of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling. The juxtaposition of bookmark and representation of Nuu-chah-nulth himwits’a, or narrative, is a deliberate and meaningful placement of two distinct knowledge systems in relationship with one another. Ephemeral drawings like these were not created for the market; the artist has long made them for himself and sometimes as gifts for relatives and friends; they are a way of sharing his knowledge and experience about Nuu-chah-nulth ways of knowing, thinking about, and being in this world; they are expressive of what he calls kiitskiitsa: marks made with intention.