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 on a blue-grey coloured bookmark. The front-side of the bookmark is a hand-drawn image of a killer whale with an exaggerated body that extends around the head of the whale to the top edge of the bookmark. Above the head is the whale's dorsal(?) fin; at the very top of the bookmark is the whale's tail. The dorsal fin is decorated with three creatures, all with eye-shapes and teeth. Two human skulls are drawn on the whale, one on the whale's head and the other between the tail flukes. The whale's tongue extends outwards towards the left edge of the bookmark. An inverted lightning serpent(?) is drawn at the bottom of the bookmark; the head of the serpent is decorated with abstract shapes, a crisscross pattern, and stars. A human skull is drawn within the curve of the serpent's body. The reverse-side of the bookmark is machine-printed in black ink with information for an "I.Con II" conference, including dates, location, etc.