9. Quʔišinʔmit Washes the Domesticated Human Off

Nuu-Chah-Nulth
Woodblock
22.5” x 17”

Edition 10/30

In our stories, Quʔišinʔmit (Raven that was or Son of Raven) is always making a mess of things. Quʔišinʔmit is constantly looking for a shortcut and easy way to indulge their greed and wanting-ness. In their reflection, we gently see our own weaknesses. Steeped in an illusion that shiny things and stature will bring us ease, we see our own attempts to take more than we need, to side-step the hard work and collaboration it takes to build anything of meaning. It is too effortless to continue living in this foolish way. And yet in our stories all the other creatures still hold Quʔišinʔmit in gentle love and respect. The struggle and the learning are just a sacred part of things, as we accept our human-being-ness. Quʔišinʔmit washes the domesticated human off is a likeness of my own humble attempts to challenge my wanting-ness. To learn from my own misguided intentions and return to my true being-ness. Inspired by the cultural sharings of George Clutesi, my creative interpretation of Quʔišinʔmit presents in the body of a woman bathing in our ancestral bog lands under moonlight.