Amid a climate crisis, ‘Vital Signs' documents the ‘relentless force' of changing landscapes

Hamilton Spectator

5 days ago

Tucked into a quiet corner of the Bill Reid Gallery is a nine-minute film by Nlaka'pamux artist Jade Baxter about the wildfire that devastated her homelands.
Through a series of raw, handheld clips, Why Would I Leave? documents the months leading up to the June 2021 blaze that tore through 'Lytton.'
Baxter's footage captures not only the fire itself, but the simmering tension of a community living under intensifying climate pressure.
After weeks of record-breaking temperatures during the western 'North America' Heat Dome, the fast-moving flames caused two fatalities and destroyed most of the Nlaka'pamux village.
The piece is part of the new exhibition Vital Signs, which features work by six First Nations artists who explore the personal and collective impacts of climate-related catastrophes on their communities.
The six artists — Jade Baxter (Nlaka'pamux), Jasper Berehulke (Syilx/Okanagan), Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena), Kwiis Hamilton (Hupačasath/Leq'a:mel), Rebecca Baker-Grenier (Kwakiuł, Dzawada'enuwx and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), and Sage Nowak (Tahltan) — were in attendance. For several of them, Vital Signs marks the first time they've shared their work at the downtown 'Vancouver' gallery.
On May 13, Matriarch Mary Point welcomed more than one hundred guests to the the opening of the exhibition on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɬ Peoples.
'This place has many names,' Point said as she stood among guests in the grand hall of the gallery, with its soaring ceilings and mezzanine-level balcony that wraps around the room.
'Whether we think of this place as the Bill Reid Gallery, as 'Hornby Street,' as 'Vancouver,' I think we can collectively think of this place as — leləm̓ — as home.'
Point, who is from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nation, says she saw 'not only a crisis,' depicted in the exhibition works, but 'messages of caution.'
'In our language, there is no word for art,' she said. 'It's just part of who you are. I really see that upstairs — it's part of who you are.'
Across the mezzanine, works by the six artists span painting, cedar sculptures, textiles, photography, film, poetry, jewelry, and drawing — showcasing a wide range of artistic expression.
The exhibition's title, Vital Signs, refers not only to the measurements of the body's essential functions, but also to the idea that the land is vital to our existence — a living entity in its own right, say curators Aliya Boubard and Amelia Rea.
In Baxter's film, scenes of intense orange skies, billowing smoke, and smoldering flames reminiscent of an atomic blast are intercut with quiet hand-held clips of the village, a 'Canada' flag hanging from a window, and Baxter's black cat Mitchuk slipping through the frame. These ordinary moments take on profound weight when followed with the sound of howling wind and the surreal, otherworldly light.
Overlaying the juxtaposed clips is a poem, written by Baxter before the fire, in 2019.
'If you crawled up from the river you would see there are worn metal tracks' she reads. 'Pounded so deep into rock it could start a blaze to burn this heart out.'
The poem references Pasco v. Canadian National Railway, a landmark 1985 B.C. Supreme Court decision. On August 19 of that year, the court issued an injunction preventing CN Rail from constructing a second track along an eight-mile stretch of the Thompson River — a ruling that safeguarded Nlaka'pamux fishing and cultural sites.
Silhouetted against a hillside ablaze, two figures stand watching as thick smoke swallows the night sky. Over the scene, Baxter delivers a stark quote from CN Rail's legal counsel: 'There is god. And next to god is the railway.'
The frame then cuts to an eagle circling high above the smoke. Baxter responds: 'To that lawyer I say — I don't believe in god. And I don't believe in the railway.'
Jasper Berehulke's diptich on wood panels continue on the theme of fire, representing 'the relentless force of wildfires' he wrote in an artist statement.
One painting, watching tqłəniw̓ t, depicts the 2023
McDougall Creek
wildfire, which blazed through 13,500 hectares of syilx homelands. A silhouette of Berehulke's brother stands in the foreground, watching as flames consume Westbank First Nation land before jumping the lake towards kiʔláwnaʔ (Kelowna).
His second painting, watching kiʔláwnaʔ, captures a lone ponderosa pine tree 'standing as a silent witness,' Berehulke wrote, as fire engulfed the other side of the lake.
Healing is a central theme in the work of Hupačasath/Leq'a:mel artist Kwiis Hamilton, whose diverse practice spans graffiti-style painting, jewelry, and drawing. His large-scale painting explores the cycles we move through — life and death, pain and healing, growth and transformation among both human and non-human relatives.
Black squiggles ripple across the edges of the canvas, symbolizing a time of upheaval and physical change brought on by an earthquake. 'This time of change,' Hamilton says, 'is an opportunity to learn, grow, and ʔuʔaałukst̓ał (take care of one another).
Engraved silver and hand-cut abalone shell jewelry and ink drawings accompany the painting, which Hamilton says explores the reciprocal relationship humans share with the land.
Also on display is a poem originally written by Hamilton in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. Sayaasim min Nismaqkin (In the future we belong to the land), shares the same name as the series of artworks on display.
'Even on the darkest days,' Hamilton writes, 'Your ancestors are with you, Remember them, Acknowledge them, Sing for them, Make an offering.'
A featured piece by fashion designer Rebecca Baker, Our Roots Run Deep, is a corset crafted from old-growth cedar shavings.
'For those who know carving, it's so special to be surrounded by those remnants,' said Baxter, who arrived straight from Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe with her family.
Inspired by her poem Yesterday: A Love Letter to Cedar, Baker said she wanted the piece to reflect 'the importance of using every part of our natural resources.'
The exhibition is on view upstairs in the Bill Reid Gallery and will be on view daily until September 7. Admission is free for Indigenous Peoples.