What is Sacred: Revitalizing Coast Salish Art and Culture

This thesis examines Coast Salish art and its revitalization through storytelling methodology as it relates to my own artistic practice. Bringing together visual art, essay, narrative, poetry, prose, and experimental layout, I examine the complex histories of colonization and ongoing colonialism in the Coast Salish world. My research has been centered on the quote “Coast Salish art is to make the sacred visible,” shared by Elder Bill White from my community in Snuneymuxw. This quote has fascinated and inspired me, leading to the question “What is sacred?” Through my own art practice in dialogue with lived experience, the teachings I have received from my family, community, and culture, as well as through my academic training in philosophy, I ask about what it means for us as Coast Salish artists to make work that represents the sacred; how it facilitates the sacred; the ways that we work in both traditional and modern contexts; and what was significant about the efforts beginning in the 1970’s by artists like Susan Point, Charles Elliott, Simon Charlie, Stan Greene, and others to bring traditional Coast Salish art forms back to the surface. Teachings from my late great-grandmother, Dr. Ellen Rice White, Kwulasulwut, play an intrinsic role in this text. My goal is to share teachings with future generations of Coast Salish peoples and those who wish to learn about who we are and our art.