Marianne Nicolson

Tunics of the Changing Tide: Dzawada-enuxw Histories Tree of Life Design

In the early 19th century, the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people of the North Pacific Coast started to incorporate European trade materials into tunics worn during potlatch ceremonies. These tunics, illustrated here in Marianne Nicolson’s mixed-media painting, incorporate crest and clan designs that demonstrate familial lineages and the passing of specific privileges, such as land rights. On this tunic, the Tree of Life (also known as cedar) representsa valuable resource that has long sustained the Kwakwaka’wakw. Below the Tree of Life is Sisiyutł, a double-headed serpent that is a powerful figure in the Kwakwaka’wakw tradition. After the colonial Canadian government outlawed Indigenous potlatch ceremonies in the 1920s, these tunics were not used for many decades. In the 1990s, however, young men began refilling positions in the potlatch ceremony and sought new tunics. This led to their resurgence as a cultural clothing item. The title, Tunics of the Changing Tides, refers to the cycle of return of Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw cultural freedom and the expression of their worldview through the tunics a century after their legal suppression.