Humpback Whale Drum

2024
Acrylic on animal hide and red cedar frame
16" dia.

"The design for this drum is inspired by three works that really stood out to me from three different museums. There is a whale bone club head motif in the belly of the whale, echoing a design I am drawn to from a club housed in the Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology collection. There is repeating ribs in the whale, mirroring a whale design at the Makah Cultural centre, which has a collection of belongings excavated from the Ozette village site, which was buried by a landslide. The salmon designs above are inspired by fish designs that are on a gave box that was stolen from my ancestor's village in W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), also known as Brentwood Bay, on Vancouver Island, and then housed in the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. The grave box has since been repatriated back to W̱JOȽEȽP from the museum."

This piece was created for an exhibition in the Museum of Archology and Anthropology in Cambridge, England, part of a group exhibtion called "Fault Lines" from 2024-2025.