Print Method: Giclée
Edition: 200
Released: March 2019
Paper Size: 8.5" x 11" (optional matt: 11"x 14")
Avalanching-Around-the-World
Growing up, I absolutely LOVED playing with toys. In fact, I was thoroughly obsessed with them! They fueled my imagination and encouraged me to read and do research in the school library. My toys pushed me to become fascinated with historical wars, dinosaurs, castles and space exploration. One type of toy that I never found, however, was anything that had to do with my own Kwakwaka’wakw background. On the occasional instances where Indigenous people were represented in toys, they invariably fell under the “Cowboys and Indians” genre, not the “Totem poles and Potlatching” kind of Indian. I could never find toys that really mirrored who I was. As a result, I never really started researching my own people until I had put my toys away as a teenager. As a devout researcher now, however, I am more than happy to project some real Indigenous context onto the toys of my childhood.
I am fortunate to have received a number of ancestral names throughout my lifetime, starting at a young age. In the fall of 2011, my cousin William Wasden Jr seated me with the name Ḵ̓wa̱mxa̱laga̱lis, or “Avalanching-around-the-World”. The original holder of this name was the great-great-grandson of the first ancestor of the TÌ“sitÌ“sa̱ł’walag̱a̱me' clan of the ‘Na̱mg̱is. Since early times, this name has been associated with the 8th or 9th eagle chief seat amongst the ‘Na̱mg̱is. The last holder of this position was my great-great grandmother’s eldest brother, Chief Fred Innis.
