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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.

Description

A pencil drawing on a beige bookmark. The bookmark is vertically oriented. The front-side of the bookmark is a hand-drawn image of an aquatic scene. At the top are two heavily shaded wave-like shapes representing the waterline(?). Above the water is the top section of a boat stern; this section is coloured with light grey pencil, an unshaded band crosses the top right corner of the stern and a unshaded circle is drawn in the top right corner. Below the waterline is the remainder of the stern with a rudder; the stern(?) is shaded in with pencil except for the left edge which has an unshaded border, the rudder is unshaded, and a small unshaded circle is positioned above the rudder. Below is a large harpoon on a frayed rope. The border of the harpoon is unshaded, the interior is coloured light grey, and a polka dot covered shaft protrudes from the centre of the harpoon. Extending from the bottom right corner of the bookmark, and surrounding the harpoon, are long strands of sea kelp. At the very bottom of the drawing is the profile view of a human-like being's head. The human-like being's face is lightly shaded with pencil, the eyebrow ridge is coloured dark grey, and a rope-like headpiece sits atop of the being's hair. The reverse-side of the bookmark is machine-printed in black ink. At the top, lines of text, describing the benefits and use of sweet grass, are printed. Below, the company name, "Sweet Grass," logo and phone numbers are printed.