Damien Gillis, Cease Wyss and Olivier Leroux: Stalkaya - Ḵ'elhmáy̓/X̱ápay̓ay

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Damien Gillis, Cease Wyss and Olivier Leroux,"SANCTUARY," 2021

immersive film

Stalkaya - Ḵ'elhmáy̓/X̱ápay̓ay

North Van Arts is proud to present Stalkaya - Ḵ'elhmáy̓/X̱ápay̓ay. The exhibition title refers to the traditional Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) name of the Dakota Bear Forest (Stalkaya) followed by the two words for yellow and red cedar. Stalkaya includes ‘SANCTUARY’, a 360° immersive film experience that takes you to the heart of a forest that has existed since the last Ice Age. Alongside this filmic adventure are artwork by Tsawaysia Spukwus and Sesemiya- Tracy Williams. This collection of work, curated by Cease Wyss, explores Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) people’s relationship to cedar and to the ancient forests that house these sacred trees. Sunshine Coast’s Mark Benson’s large-scale photographs are also included in the show.

‘SANCTUARY: The Dakota Bear Ancient Forest Experience’ (by Damien Gillis, Cease Wyss, and Olivier Leroux) is an ecological adventure—a feast for the senses, and an implicit call to action. This 360° projection takes you deep into an ancient forest that has long been threatened by clearcut logging. The province recently committed to protect this area, working with the Skwxwú7mesh Nation, but has yet to formalize the scope and nature of these protections. Inside a geodesic dome, built within CityScape Community ArtSpace, viewers experience a 10-minute mix of music and nature sounds, with a wraparound view of an ancient forest. Hosted by Cease Wyss, this is a transporting experience: from the inside of hollow trunks, where black bears make their winter dens, to the precipice of a waterfall and other magical places, it offers the thrill of true immersion.

The SANCTUARY experience is also playing at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM-4PM, until September 26. Learn more at moa.ubc.ca.

The exhibition can be viewed during CityScape opening hours. However, the ‘SANCTUARY’ 360° projection is available to view for free by appointment only. Book online at northvanarts.ca or call 604 988 6844.

North Van Arts had the pleasure of working of With Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) to produce an education video about the  Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) practice of cedar harvesting.

Cease Wyss is an educator, ethnobotanist, and media artist of Skwxwu7mesh, Stó:lō, Hawaiian, and Swiss descent. Trained by Indigenous knowledge keepers, she uses her art, her activism, and her teaching to raise awareness and bring about change.

Damien Gillis is a journalist and filmmaker. His documentary Fractured Land won Best BC Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2015, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Tyee, and elsewhere.

Olivier Leroux is an experienced VR Director and DOP who has taught VR journalism at UBC and works with the iM4 VR program at Emily Carr University.

Tsawaysia Spukwus (Skwxwu7mesh/ Kwa’kwa’kwaxw) whose English name is Alice Guss (nee Harry), is a Squamish Nation member, born and raised in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.  She is a mother of three children who is strong, committed and active in the preservation of her Culture and Heritage. Tsawaysia participates in all aspects of First Nations culture, language, community, governance, education, traditional art forms, healing, recreation, singing, drumming, dancing and storytelling.

Sesemiya- Tracy Williams (Skwxwu7mesh/ Sto:lo / Hawaiian) has been a traditional cedar and wool weaver for over 20+ years and is descendant of a long line of cedar and wool weavers.  She is a practitioner of traditional ecological knowledge. Including speaking the Skwxwu7mesh Snichem (language) and participating in cultural revitalization. Tracy is the Manager of the Language and Cultural Affairs Department for the Squamish Nation and works with several community members and services to promote cultural awareness and access to knowledge and knowledge carriers within our nation. Tracy has intensively pursued her passion for a deep understanding of plants, animal fibres, foraging for wild food, spinning wild fibres, and learning how to read our traditional landscape from the perspective of a traditional land-based cultural person. She has humbly accepted that she is far from the life that her Skwxwumesh Ancestors have walked. She has been on a path of rediscovering the value of fire and how it contributes to dyes and the processing of fibres. Tracy has developed a unique relationship to plants and how they transform into food, fibre, or medicine and the depth of knowledge that lays within the ocean.

Mark Benson has been fascinated by nature since he was a child. After leaving home at the age of 18 he was unexpectedly struck with a deep desire to know his inner Self. After leaving home he found himself in a yogic meditation centre, where he spent seven blissful years as a yogic monk focusing on the universe within. When he left monastic life he felt a vacuum inside and searched for a way to share his inner quest with the world. This is when Mark started photographing BC’s beauty. His focus is the here and now of photography, the subtle play of light and colour, to unveil the earth’s mysteries that are shrouded in time’s restless movement and reveal the Divine through composition, exposure and depth of field.