Finalist for the BC & Yukon Book Prizes Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
Buy Book“Every generation shapes history according to its own particular needs. The current shaping of social relations between First Nations people in Canada and the settler population is embedded in the essays in this collection. It is about regional museums and their holdings of Northwest Coast First Nations cultural treasures, but it is also about much more. The inquisitive reader has much of value to discover here.”
—Ḥaa’yuups
Knowledge Within: Treasures of the Northwest Coast looks into seventeen of the numerous sites in the Pacific Northwest region with major collections of Northwest Coast Indigenous material culture, bringing attention to a wide range of approaches to caring for and exhibiting such treasures. Each chapter is written by one or more people who work or worked in the organization they write about. Each author takes a different approach to the invitation to reflect upon their institution: some narrate a history of the institution, some focus on particular pieces in the collection, and some consider the significance of the work currently being done for the present and future. They show that these are places and moments in a much longer story, still ongoing, with many characters—communities, individuals, institutions, artworks, treasures.
Featuring ‘Ksan Historical Village and Museum, Museum of Northern British Columbia, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Haida Gwaii Museum, U’mista Cultural Centre, Museum at Campbell River, Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Royal BC Museum, Vancouver Airport Authority / YVR Art Foundation, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Stó:lō Resource Centre, Museum of Vancouver, Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, and Audain Art Museum.
“A project over a decade in the making, it’s a breathtaking compilation of over seventeen sites and museum collections in the Pacific Northwest region that makes it a library must-have.”
“There is much creative wealth to be found in this attractive volume, which presents the various “treasure houses” – the repositories that hold Pacific Northwest work – sharing it for wider benefit and learning, locally and beyond. I’m also thinking about using Knowledge Within practically as an enticing guide that beckons me to hit the road for a journey of wonderment and new understanding.”
Art Books 2022
Forthcoming from Figure 1
“A good book should leave something behind in your mind, little nuggets of treasure — a thought to ponder, a quote to repeat, an ending that will not end, a scene you see again and again, a relationship that deepens, a new insight to see with, an image that says so much. Knowledge Within: Treasures of the Northwest Coast leaves you with a selection of these gems.”