We Dance Them Back In Item Number: 3520/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Woodblock layered print depicting a female dancer wearing a headdress of a female lightning serpent; dancer is also being led by the supernatural being. Figure is wearing a shawl with circular motifs, short pants and tall boots. Large white circle behind dancer's face; filled with curved rows of dots and trimmed with plain bands and dots. In bottom right corner of print, there is a row of dancing women; heads are tilted down, left hands are raised and right are at sides with their palms down. All are wearing shawls, shirts and knee-length skirts. Wavy bands stretch across print; bands are either plain or filled with circular motifs. Small lightning serpents throughout background; circles with star-like shapes in their centres throughout background. Print has a yellow background with designs overtop done in black and white. Along the bottom edge of the print is the edition number, title and artist signature are written in pencil.
Artist statement: "Our natural world is a continual manifestation of the supernatural realms. In our teachings, both realities and all that is held within them are connected as one. For many, many generations the framework of our culture was built only through the lens of our Nuu-chah-nulth worldview. Since first contact we have experienced a rapidly evolving reality with many new challenges. Change can be very scary, especially when it has brought so many devastating disruptions to the balance in our communities. But as a living, breathing culture, I like to imagine that our supernatural beings have continued to transform with us. Perhaps they too fall in love, create families and birth new life into the supernatural realms. In ceremony, when we bring out our ancestral dances, we are embodying powerful and almost unfathomable forces. When we gather in this way, we are bringing our people back into alignment with the supernatural realms. 'We Dance Them Back In' celebrates the transformative quality of any living culture. We do not cease to transform because we have experienced colonization and forced assimilation. We remain connected and worthy of sacredness if we are brave enough to open ourselves to it."