Art Thompson

Print for Sale: $ 175.00

About the Print

Created by world-renowned Nuu-chah-nulth artist Tsaqwasupp (Art Thompson, 1949 to 2003). This design was gifted to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society as a symbol of how our culture helps us move beyond the traumas suffered in Indian Residential school. We have a limited run of 200 prints for sale at $175. We offer our sincerest thanks for this transforming work of art.

 

Each tribal group on the coast has creation stories, most of them involve the Raven as the supernatural creator. Every tribal group has stores within the tribe or family about the shaman. Almost every tribal group has stories of shaman re-instilling lost souls back into human beings who have suffered a traumatic experience of one kind or another. This would happen with the usage of ritualistic songs accompanied with the usage of a “soul catcher” in which the shaman would capture the soul then “blow it” back into the mouth of the victim.

 

What I have done with the arts is to put all three elements together (in a Ditidaht style) to signal hope of restoring some of our inherent strengths. Strengths drawn from our history and the strengths we still have today.

 

We have an incredible history as Native people of this country; we have suffered through many disadvantages and elimination. We have become well adjusted in most respects. Not only have we survived we are moving beyond survival into a new era of native awareness once dreamed of by our ancestors. We are truly becoming a strong people.

 

Through the arts I have woven my future, something that is important for all of us. For me it defines in one aspect who we are and it helps define our space in this world.

 

Tsaqwasupp (Art Thompson)