Marianne Nicolson

Tunics of the Changing Tide: Kwikwasut'inuxw Histories of the Double Headed Thunderbird Design

In the early 19th century, First Nations people started to incorporate European trade materials into their decorative and elaborate tunics. However, the settler government quickly suppressed all Indigenous cultural forms, enforcing assimilation practices. Marianne Nicolson uses her art to resist colonial erasure and revitalize Kwakwaka’wakw culture and history. Tunics of the Changing Tide represents Indigenous resilience and a turn toward recovery. This painting depicts a double-headed Thunderbird represented on a tunic, a prominent figure of protection and strength in many Indigenous communities’ stories, decorated with a 1929 coin on the chest. The year is significant because it marks the point when the Kwakwaka'wakw people began to recover from severe population decline and revive their cultural traditions.