Gathering Strength:
A Coast Salish Art Installation at the Cadillac Fairview Building
Currently on View at Granville Square, 200 Granville Street
Open Monday to Friday, from 7:00am - 6:00pm
In 2020, Culture|Shift—the city of Vancouver’s 2020-2029 Culture Plan, noted that “the multiple and ongoing legacies of colonization have impacted Indigenous people’s rights to practice and revitalize their cultures. Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh visibility and voice are still limited within Vancouver’s cultural ecosystem; Urban Indigenous people also experience cultural marginalization. Reconciliation and decolonization strategies are critical to address these challenges and support Indigenous arts, culture, language, and heritage.”
A new installation in the Cadillac Fairview Building, Granville Square, located at 200 Granville Street responds to this concern. It explores the history of colonial silencing and the re-emergence of Coast Salish Art traditions that began in the late 1970s. Selected artworks also feature Coast Salish design elements—circles, crescents and trigons—and demonstrate a sense of aesthetics that values balance, symmetry and naturalistic forms.
From print making to sculpture, the featured works demonstrate the importance of family teachings, mentorship and the blending of traditions through marriage. Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh artworks feature prominently in this first installation and will be on display for a year before being exchanged for a new selection that looks at Coast Salish Art with a different lens.
Location
Acknowledgements:
Cadillac Fairview:
Project Management: Serena Shum
Museum of Vancouver:
Curatorial Lead: Sharon Fortney
Design and Fabrication: Nicolas Cyr-Morton
Fabrication Team: Georgia Fairhurst, Neil Chung
Conservation: Vasundhara Pradip Madhumita
Curatorial Associate: Christine Pennington
Graphic Design: Mia Hansen
Printing: Second City Print Solutions
Framing: ABC Fine Art
CEO: Mauro Vescera
We acknowledge that the city of Vancouver is on the shared, unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.