This artist is keeping a traditional Indigenous practice authentic

As part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Kelowna10 is sharing past coverage of Indigenous stories.

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Speaking for the animals in an authentic Indigenous way is how one local artist describes her unique spin on a traditional art form.

Nancy A. Luis is Métis and creates intricate spirit catchers shaped like animals, the frames of which are welded by her husband.

The dream catchers have dazzling beads, leather, and sinew, and each has a story attached to it, relating to her dreams, intuition, and experiences.

“I write stories through the animals’ perspective of living through a clear cut or the ice caps that have melted,” Luis told Kelowna10. “We’re all one. We’re one ecological system on this Earth, yet people treat them differently.”

Luis said traditional dream catchers are round and hung near a bedroom window. They work by catching bad dreams in the webbing. The morning dew melts them down to the feathers where they blow away, allowing good dreams to pass through.

“My work is more of a statement about the animals, that’s where I’ve got my focus for my art,” Luis explained. “What does it mean to be an eagle, bear, or turtle spirit? Where do they go now after there’s been a clear cut?”

She was inspired to start making her spirit catchers over 20 years ago after attending The Witness Project, which is run by the Squamish Nation in conjunction with the Round House Community Centre.

The endeavour, which started in 1997, looked to introduce people to the land and see first hand the impacts of logging on traditional Squamish Nation territory.

While there, her group was taken to an area that had been clear cut and then to an old growth forest.

“We all stood around one tree, about 20 or 30 of us, and it was just amazing,” Luis explained. “It’s much more than just trees, it’s the whole ecological system.”

Shortly after, she went back to school at the Native Education College in Vancouver, where she learned through an Indigenous perspective.

“I was not brought up with any Indigenous culture, so my spirit really woke up there,” Luis said

The final push to create the art based on traditional dream catchers came after seeing how many stores were selling dream catchers that weren’t authentically Indigenous or made in Canada.

“That was my drive to do what I’m doing now, it’s our culture, it’s our art, it’s our ancestors from eons ago,” Luis explained.

“Somebody is taking our concept, mass producing it and selling it as though it’s made by an Indigenous person and that’s not right.”