Ancestor Love by Shar Wilson

I am an Indigenous person with tangible ties to this land. These ties are strewn throughout this country in many ways. I have my lineage which is passed down through my Maternal line. I belonged to the Frog Clan as soon as I was born because my Mother (Noox) was of the Frog Clan, as was her Mother, my Grandmother (Tsiits), Nora. My Grandmother held the name that I have now, Wii'hlbuun.

Another way I am of this land is through the knowledge that I have of the relationship between me, the water, the ocean's creatures, the creatures of the land and air. I understand our connection and understand that we each have a role to fulfill in this world. This knowledge has been passed down through many ways and among our oral story telling this knowledge is shared through our art. 

This is how I came to create Ancestor Love. I studied our art via books, scholars, master carvers and modern day artists. I grew to learn how our form line came to be and learned that only the best pieces of art were used to adorn our regalia, our clothing, our furniture, our houses, our memorials, and so on. Knowing that each piece carefully created by an artist with the tools and supplies available to him 1000's of years ago and then was vetted by a panel of chiefs for approval made our art so special to me. I realized that each piece I was able to study was a labour of love, Ancestral Love. I studied the form line and took some of what intrigued me and created this piece.

Some of the lines are not used today, but, I saw them, on some obscure part of the pieces that I studied and I took those vetted lines and brought them to the present. This is Ancestral Love.