32 Northern BC First Nations represented on the walls of UNBC by local Indigenous artist

Over 30 different First Nations communities in Northern BC are being represented on the walls of UNBC with carvings by local Cree/Dalkeh artist, Clayton Gauthier.

The Cedar Plank Project is now on display in Lhuhuhwhezdel: Gathering Place in the school, a project that has been underway for two years.

Spread across the walls of the room are 32 different carvings that represent a vast range of Northern First Nations communities including Mcleod Lake Indian Band, Lheidli T’enneh First Nations, Blueberry River First Nations, and Gitimax First Nation.

“Once these carvings came to light, it opened my eyes to how diverse our Nations are within the territory. There were some nations I didn’t even know about!” said Gauthier.

The project was launched in September 2019 when UNBC First Nations Centre faculty members reached out to over 100 First Nations communities across BC asking if they wanted to participate.

After about a year of communications, the 32 communities were selected and many of them were ecstatic to have their community represented through art in Prince George, especially since many are quite remote and isolated.

That is when Gauthier was asked to partake in the project by hand carving every community logo and painting them with the help of some UNBC students.

The design of each carving is the official logo of a northern BC First Nation which was submitted by the community.

“It is an honour to be chosen for this project. There’s a bunch of students that actually had a hand in these, so as things started flowing the stories started to come out too. Each piece spoke to me in its own way and it’s just powerful knowing our connection with the many nations and the land and hearing the stories. We did our best to get the stories behind them all because I wanted to know and know who the artist was also.”

Gauthier says working with students was a blessing, and many of them learned about the history of the communities through traditional stories.

“Working with the students when it first started, many students didn’t know much about our people and they would come into the room and we’d share stories and share a bit of the art that we’re producing for the different nations, so it really opened peoples eyes and students wanted to learn more about the territories here.”

UNBC’s Manager of Aboriginal Student Engagement, Beverly Best says this project will make Indigenous UNBC students feel like they belong because many will see their communities represented through beautiful artwork.

“I hope it reminds people of their connection to the territories and our people here have been through a lot of hardship,” Gauthier added, “we’re so resilient and our people, there are many different nations that do their things their own way and they’re very resilient but we’re all connected.”