Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery presents Backstory: Nuuchaanulth Ceremonial Curtains and the Work of Ki-ke-in

January 17 – March 28, 2010

Opening reception: Saturday, January 16, 3 – 5 pm

Symposium: Talking about Thliitsapilthim – Nuuchaanulth Ceremonial Curtains
January 15 – 16

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
University of British Columbia
1825 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

http://www.belkin.ubc.ca

Accompanied by photographs, documents and interviews, Backstory: Nuuchaanulth Ceremonial Curtains and the Work of Ki-ke-in promotes a deeper understanding of Nuuchaanulth art and culture and is a celebration of these remarkable curtains and the people who make and use them.

Backstory: Nuuchaanulth Ceremonial Curtains and the Work of Ki-ke-in is generously sponsored by The Audain Foundation and presented with the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad with support from the British Columbia Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

Background biographies:
Ki-ke-in is a Nuuchaanulth fisher, storyteller, poet, and scholar from the Hupacasath First Nation and lives on the Ahaswinis Reserve in the Alberni Valley. Ki-ke-in is active internationally through his participation in public debates, symposia, and exhibitions concerning a trans-Pacific history for the cultures and art of the Northwest Coast. He has contributed to the publications, Indian Residential Schools: the Nuuchahnulth Experience (1996) and Listening to our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast (2006). Ki-ke-in has made a vital contribution to Nuuchaanulth art, ceremonial and ritual life.

Charlotte Townsend-Gault is a Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia and Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University College London. Townsend-Gault was a curator of Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada (1992), Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (1995) and Rebecca Belmore (2002) for the Belkin Art Gallery. She has written about the work of Marianne Nicholson, James Luna, and Stan Douglas, and is at work on two books, “Masked Relations: Display and Disguise on the Northwest Coast” and “The Idea of Northwest Coast Native Art: An Anthology,” co-edited with Jennifer Kramer and Ki-ke-in (forthcoming 2010).

For information: Naomi Sawada [email protected], tel: 604-822-3640
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
University of British Columbia
1825 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

http://www.belkin.ubc.ca