By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter INDIGINEWS
It was the middle of the pandemic, and syilx Okanagan artist q虛史蓹q虛史cw虛iya蕯 (Chipmunk) Taylor Baptiste found herself feeling homesick for her Osoyoos Indian Band community.
She had left to attend art school at Emily Carr University in Vancouver.
Baptiste thought about her family harvesting ochre 乌鸦传媒� an iron-rich clay earth used as a pigment around the world for millennia 乌鸦传媒� from her ancestral homelands. Community members taught her how to grind it down to mix it into a natural paint.
So to stay connected to her home, Baptiste got to work mixing ochre she had harvested from her land.
乌鸦传媒淔rom there, I went through combining ochre pigment that I harvested and learned from them, with other materials to create my own paint,乌鸦传媒� Baptiste told IndigiNews, explaining how she mixed the powder with binders such as bear grease, fish oil, honey, and even saliva.
The experiments helped 乌鸦传媒渂uild my relationship with the material,乌鸦传媒� she said.
After making her own paints this way, she said she began to try creating different paintings and pictographs on rocks and other canvases.
Now, nearly five years later, Baptiste is back in her homelands. She brought with her two pictograph sculptures that she created during her time in art school, which are inspired and informed by her syilx practices.
The two sculptures 乌鸦传媒� 乌鸦传媒楬ow Turtle Set the Animal People Free乌鸦传媒� and 乌鸦传媒楩light of Union乌鸦传媒� 乌鸦传媒� make up the q虛ayisxn: Off the Rocks exhibit this month at the University of British Columbia Okanagan乌鸦传媒檚 art gallery in Kelowna. According to Baptiste, q虛ayisxn in her nsyilxcen language is a type of pictograph not painted on rock.
The exhibit opened Jan. 9, celebrated with a reception the next day. It乌鸦传媒檚 on display until Jan. 22.
Ochre pigment has been a key ingredient used by generations of syilx Okanagan people to create pictograph mark-making on their territories. Pictograph paintings are found on rock surfaces, recording events and depicting everything from the nation乌鸦传媒檚 creation stories to family lineages and to stories about the specific sites where they were painted.
乌鸦传媒淭hey were marks left by our ancestors on this land,乌鸦传媒� Baptiste said, a reminder of how long syilx people have lived on their territories.
There are pictograph sites across syilx Okanagan territory, dated from hundreds to thousands of years old. These sites are protected and their locations safeguarded, because settler-colonialism led to some historic sites being vandalized or even removed entirely.
That happened in 2020, when a pictograph site in Baptiste乌鸦传媒檚 home community was vandalized with vulgar, racist remarks.
乌鸦传媒淚 remember the moment when I saw it on the news, while I was in Vancouver,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淚t felt like losing a loved one, seeing that happen.乌鸦传媒�
Fortunately, state-of-the-art laser technology was able to save and preserve the pictograph by removing the spraypaint.
The incident led Baptiste to begin researching the restoration technology she learned that a layer of microorganisms can develop and live over the top of pictographs for hundreds of years.
乌鸦传媒淭hey actually absorb the pigments themselves, so these tiny little microorganisms that live on the pictographs become pigmented and they乌鸦传媒檙e moving around them,乌鸦传媒� she explained. 乌鸦传媒淪o these pictographs actually become living beings and living documents themselves.乌鸦传媒�
She dedicated a research paper to this natural phenomenon, and to the laser technology used to save her community乌鸦传媒檚 pictograph. With her academic focus on sculpture, she created an art piece to accompany her research 乌鸦传媒� honouring her culture in the process.
乌鸦传媒淚 wanted to create a piece that could symbolize how pictographs become their own living beings,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淪o my thought process in doing that was to take it off of the wall, and to give it its own 3D space off of the rocks 乌鸦传媒� something we could walk around and see.乌鸦传媒�
The result was a nearly three-metre-tall figure depicting a core story from the nation乌鸦传媒檚 乌鸦传媒嬑谘淮綃captik史艂 乌鸦传媒� syilx oral narratives 乌鸦传媒� titled 乌鸦传媒淗ow Turtle Set the Animal People Free.乌鸦传媒嬑谘淮綃乌鸦传媒�
Passed from generation to generation, captik史艂 are a collection stories and teachings about the syilx Nation乌鸦传媒檚 laws, customs and values. They are stories that provide instruction on how to relate to and live on the land, according to the Okanagan Nation Alliance.
Baptiste乌鸦传媒檚 pictograph sculpture shows Turtle being carried into the air by Eagle, with the sun hanging over them. She uses leading lines to illustrate the movement of the animals.
乌鸦传媒淭his is one of our core captik史艂, and so integral to who we are as sqilx乌鸦传媒檞 乌鸦传媒� as syilx Okanagan people,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淚 wanted to up the scale to make it larger than us, because it乌鸦传媒檚 something that we look up to.乌鸦传媒�
The sculpture乌鸦传媒檚 image is not of a pictograph that already exists. Baptiste created the image herself, inspired by studying different pictographs on her territories.
To make it, she used her fingers to paint 乌鸦传媒� like her ancestors had done 乌鸦传媒� on paper hung on her art studio乌鸦传媒檚 wall, using the ochre paint she mixed.
乌鸦传媒淚 spend a lot of time at the pictograph sites,乌鸦传媒� she recalled. 乌鸦传媒淚 never make a one-to-one copy of a pictograph. I don乌鸦传媒檛 believe that乌鸦传媒檚 right.乌鸦传媒�
She then photographed her painting, and used her iPad to digitize the image, then created a 3D rendition of the image.
Shortly after, Baptiste followed a similar process to create a second original 3D pictograph sculpture, Flight Of Union. After watching two eagles mating above a river, Baptsite said she was inspired to preserve fast, fleeting but wondrous moments in nature.
She spent three days hammering out sheet metal, sculpting the curves that illustrate the eagle乌鸦传媒檚 features. The nearly-two-metre high figure was then attached to a heavy-duty motor 乌鸦传媒� the kind used to turn a disco ball 乌鸦传媒� to keep the eagle constantly rotating.
When illuminated, her creation projects its own shadow underneath that depicts two eagles mating, their talons locked together as they spiral down toward the earth.
乌鸦传媒淚 wanted to immortalize it a bit 乌鸦传媒� having the tension of it so close to the ground before they break apart,乌鸦传媒� she said of her concept behind the moving sculpture and its 乌鸦传媒渟hadow work.乌鸦传媒�
Both sculptures are made of metal and foam, and use colours that are matched from ochre mixed paints that she had processed herself. Additional touch ups were done using spray paint.
The pieces were created last winter and into the spring, before she graduated from the university in May. Flight of Union was her graduation show piece, and had been installed at the institution乌鸦传媒檚 main opening area above the staircase.
乌鸦传媒淚 think taking a 2D pictograph and making it into a 3D form does give it its own breathing space,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淭o me, they do feel like they乌鸦传媒檙e partly alive even though they乌鸦传媒檙e made of metal and foam.
乌鸦传媒淭here乌鸦传媒檚 so much life and culture that gets projected onto them, that they absorb it and become part of it as well.乌鸦传媒�
Baptiste has since moved back home. And for the first time, her two sculptures have found a place outside the university乌鸦传媒檚 walls 乌鸦传媒� on her ancestral homelands through the q虛ayisxn: Off the Rocks exhibit at UBCO.
Dozens of people attended the exhibit乌鸦传媒檚 opening night on Jan. 10, including Youth and members from Baptiste乌鸦传媒檚 home community of the Osoyoos Indian Band. Their support, she said, warmed her heart.
乌鸦传媒淚t just made my heart so full to see the young people wanting to come out and see artwork,乌鸦传媒� she said.
乌鸦传媒淭he fact that I can do something I love, and to be able to show kids in my own community, means everything to me.乌鸦传媒�
In the future, she wants to increase the visibility of syilx Okanagan art and culture in her territory by bringing her work to more public spaces. Not only would that representation boost the confidence of her people, she said, but it would also offer different syilx stories at specific popular sites, helping connect Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through art.
乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 want it just out in front of a building,乌鸦传媒� she explained. 乌鸦传媒淚 really envision it still being a part of the land 乌鸦传媒� maybe it乌鸦传媒檚 in a field with sagebrush around it.乌鸦传媒�
She described feeling a sense of vulnerability in sharing pictographs and their associated cultural stories. But at the same time, she said it乌鸦传媒檚 important to educate non-Indigenous people in the region, to help inform them about what the markings are, and why it乌鸦传媒檚 important to protect them if they ever came across one.
乌鸦传媒淲hen it comes to this series, the most important thing people take away is to respect pictographs,乌鸦传媒� she said, 乌鸦传媒渆specially when so many sites have been vandalized.乌鸦传媒�
After moving back home after school, she added, having her two sculptures on display on her ancestral territory is 乌鸦传媒渏ust as much乌鸦传媒� a homecoming for them, as it was for herself.
乌鸦传媒淭hese symbols are so important and integral to our culture and who we are as Okanagan people,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淔or them to be back in their own homelands is just so special.乌鸦传媒�
