Drawing

These 62 small works (3223/1-62) comprise a collection of drawings in pencil, ink, pencil crayon, and felt pen made by the artist between the years 1968 and 2015. During that period the artist has identified himself by the following names: Ron Hamilton; Hupquatchew; Ki-ke-in; Kwayatsapalth; Chuuchkamalthnii; and Haa’yuups. The drawings are, for the most part, applied to the backs of bookmarks acquired from a range of bookshops; some are applied to other pieces of paper or cutouts from his earlier silkscreen prints. Many of the images represent killer whales, often in conjunction with accoutrements and symbols of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling. The juxtaposition of bookmark and representation of Nuu-chah-nulth himwits’a, or narrative, is a deliberate and meaningful placement of two distinct knowledge systems in relationship with one another. Ephemeral drawings like these were not created for the market; the artist has long made them for himself and sometimes as gifts for relatives and friends; they are a way of sharing his knowledge and experience about Nuu-chah-nulth ways of knowing, thinking about, and being in this world; they are expressive of what he calls kiitskiitsa: marks made with intention.

A drawing and a poem on a piece of white scrap paper. The paper and drawing are both vertically oriented. At the top of the paper, "Our Ancestors are always with us," is printed by hand in pink ink. Positioned below in the centre of the page is a human skull with two fins extending outwards from the skull. The skull and the two fins are decorated with criss-crossing assemblages of blue lines of varying lengths and thicknesses. Pink dots line the edge of the skull's circular eye sockets. The right eye socket is an unconnected circle; pink dots extend from the eye socket to form four swirling lines of varying heights in the white space outside the skull. The left fin extends out of the top of the skull; the interior is decorated with a wide pink arch filled with pink dots and a short yellow line, and a pink dotted ovoid. The right fin is drawn extending inversely from the jaw of the skull; the interior is decorated with a wide pink arch filled with pink dots, and a pink circular ovoid. Below the drawing, the lines "No Matter where we are; who we are with; what we do; what time it is; No Matter," are printed in pink ink. In the bottom right corner is the artist's signature, a "M" with a line through it and two dots. On the reverse-side, three hill-like shapes in pencil extend from the left edge of the page.