By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter North Shore News
A səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) artist is using comic book style art to elevate oral history.
The latest exhibit at Simon Fraser University’s Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (MAE) features 33 artifacts from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, displayed through 12 large comic book-style panels created by Windsor Secondary student and artist Gordie Dick. The panels tell the story of his favourite oral history, sʔi:ɬqəy̓ (the two-headed serpent).
“I appreciate it a lot because I put a lot of time in trying to create this art style and to represent a piece of Tsleil-Waututh,” Dick said.
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While there are many variations of the two-headed serpent story, this version depicts a giant, toxic blooded, two-headed serpent that torments people and animals along Burrard Inlet. Its long, blue, black and white scaled body separates the villages of ʔənlilwətaɬ (Inlailawatash) and təmtəmíxʷtən (Belcarra), frightening those who try to hunt, fish or travel in Burrard Inlet waters.
But then a hero steps in to fight the serpent, throwing eight spears to stop the creature. As the young man throws these spears, the toxic blood gets on him and he falls down, Dick said. He has a flashback, reminding him to never give up against the serpent, and the battle comes down to one final throw.
“The two-headed serpent was a lot like a plague or a little bit of an isolation for Tsleil-Waututh people back then,” he said.
It was a happy ending for the people in the two villages, as the serpent left heading over the mountains to what’s now Port Moody, “leaving a trail where vegetation no longer grows,” according to a press release from SFU.
“A lot of it is to persevere through hardships that we may have in daily life,” Dick said, adding that people can connect to the story through the pandemic, and the feelings of isolation people had during that time.
Dick decided to retell the story through comic book style art, a self-taught medium he picked up over the years, drawing inspiration from anime shows like Naruto and One Piece.
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“That’s kind of my way of storytelling because I’m a little bit shy,” he said. “My main goal was to learn culture and more about archeology.”
To make the story come to life, Dick incorporated a number of meaningful objects such as a canine tooth and antler fragments.
The project was part of an internship through the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s curation and collections department. Dick spent the last two summers working at SFU, learning about museums and curation. During his second internship, he took on the task of creating an exhibit featuring items from Belcarra Regional Park.
Funding from Heritage Canada, the Museum of North Vancouver and SFU’s MAE helped finance Dick’s work on the project.
Barbara Hilden, director of the MAE, worked with Dick in the internship. She said the comic book style art allows people to look at the history through vibrant visuals rather than dense text.
“The exhibit itself just really draws people in,” Hilden said. “It’s colourful, it’s different. The integration of the belongings into the panels is really curious, and so a lot of people are commenting on it, jumping to spend some time with it.”
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Hilden said this project, which has been on display since the fall, used a decolonized approach to exhibit curation.
Generally, Hilden said when museum professionals think about curating an exhibit, they usually start with belongings and try to find the story they’re telling. But this exhibit process was the exact opposite, starting with a story.
“If we can bring all of these different perspectives and ways of knowing together in a museum, I think it’s only going to result in good things,” she said. “It’s no longer sufficient for someone with a graduate degree to come in and decide what the story is. The story and knowledge has to be led from the community.”
The exhibit is open to the public at SFU’s MAE Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until the spring, after which it will be moved to Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s administrative building.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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