Downtown Fernie has a new eye-catching art display, showcasing local Ktunaxa history and culture.
Nupqu Resources Limited Partnership unveiled a series of local Indigenous artwork outside its office on Oct. 30 at 801 2 Ave.
Six pieces of art, along with a map of traditional Ktunaxa territory and a brief account of the Ktunaxa relationship with the land, are displayed outside of Nupqu on Fernie's main street at 801 2 Ave.
Nupqu is a Ktunaxa-owned consulting business that's involved in local development and construction projects, undertaking environmental and archaeological monitoring, and planting native trees to help restore wildlife lost during building projects. The company works with Elk Valley Resources and forestry and energy companies to ensure projects align with Indigenous environmental and cultural values.
Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it (Tobacco Plains) First Nation artists Erin O'Neil Gravelle, Darcy Luke and Marisa Phillips created the art at request from Nupqu, to grow Ktunaxa cultural presence within the city.
"There is a lack of signage, awareness of Ktunaxa content throughout the territory. We have this really great frontage here, good exposure on a nice street and thought it would be great to add to that," said Nupqu president Aaron Higgs.
"[We're] building awareness of the territory and historic usage and some of the language. There's learning components and some art. A bit of a mix," he added.
Higgs, Gravelle and Phillips were joined by Ktunaxa Nation GIS analyst Blaine Burgoyne and Chairman of Ktunaxa Enterprises Corrie Walkley at the unveiling to talk about the significance of the work.
Gravelle contributed two works of art to the display, one of a flock of ravens gathering in the forest and the other featuring a big horn sheep and a squirrel in the snowy wintry mountains.
Both of Gravelle's paintings were inspired by traditional Ktuanxa folklore. The Elk Valley was historically known by the Ktunaxa as "Land of the Raven," which Gravelle said likely got mistranslated to Crowsnest Pass.
Another recounts the story of a young boy who set out on a quest to find a special kind of wood to make a bow and arrow, and had to fight a big horn sheep and a squirrel who were guarding the mountains and preventing entry to all other earthly creatures.
"He slayed those two and opened up the gateway for any other animal or being to enter into the land," said Gravelle.
More broadly, Gravelle is an acrylic artist known for creating hand painted feathers. Recipients of her work include Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics designer Corrine Hunt, West Kootenay artist Roy Henry Vickers, former prime minister Stephen Harper and Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne.
Luke was unable to attend the event, but according to an online profile, she is a digital, beadwork, and mural artist whose design was chosen as a logo for Bringing the Salmon Home — an initiative to help salmon return to the local waters.
Phillips is a multi-disciplinary digital and mural artist who works for Nupqu, helping plant native trees at mine sites, including the endangered white bark pine which has suffered losses as a result of industrial activity and rust disease.
Her art is reflective of her work, showing the relationship between animals and plants within the local ecosystem — more specifically the grizzly bear whose favourite food is white bark pine.
Phillips emphasized the importance of growing the Ktunaxa cultural presence locally. She is dedicated to helping preserve Ktuanxa language, having played a role in developing First Voices, a website that helps teach and promote various Indigenous dialects.
"Our language is critically endangered. Our language is an isolate. We don't have any other languages that are related to us around us," Phillips explained.
"There are many different dialects of Cree, so if a particular branch of Cree is starting to weaken and die out they can go back and reference other branches of Cree, whereas Ktuanxa, we don't really have that, so when our language goes, it's gone," she added.
"Everything was orally passed down. The residential school system, it kind of had a really big impact on that."
