Artist Statement: My late partner, Xuuyaah – Terrance Richard Baker, shared a story of the Haida people venturing out to the ocean, centuries ago, making it all the way to the Hawaiian shores, where they stayed for a time. When they started for home, Hummingbirds swarmed the canoes and led the Haida home. There have been no hummingbirds in Hawaii since this time.

Bio: T’uy’t’tanat – (Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo, Hawaiian, Swiss) is an educator, interdisciplinary artist and Indigenous ethnobotanist engaged in community based teaching and sharing. Throughout Wyss’ 30 year practice, Wyss’ work encompasses storytelling and collaborative initiatives through knowledge and restoration of Indigenous plants and natural spaces. Wyss has been recognized for exchanging traditional knowledge in remediating our relationship to land through digital media, site-specific engagements and weaving. She’s participated and exhibited at galleries, museums, festivals and public spaces such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery and the PuSh Festival, to name a few. In 2022, T’uy’t’tanat received an honourary PhD from ECUAD.

AR Team: With support from the IM4 Media Lab, in collaboration with Jolene Andrew, Anne Saint Louis, Moni Garr, Tim Rolls & Mike Peredo and the Vancouver Mural Festival Winter Arts.