Art That Speaks to the Heart: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

What's Happening

CALLING HOME

We acknowledge we are on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Exhibit Description

“This design was created as an invitation for a blessing ceremony for carvings that had been created. At this ceremony, select women were asked to brush these carvings with cedar boughs. As they worked, they were singing. I didn’t know what the work was going to be this day exactly, but while I was watching I saw it being reflected in my design. When sacred work is being done, it calls in all ancestors and calls in all beings. This design is what sacred work is about. Calling in and bringing forward beings past and present.”

Visit Atheana Picha’s artwork, ‘Calling Home’, on display in the Grand Lobby.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Atheana Picha is a Coast Salish artist from the Kwantlen First Nation, and her late grandmother was from the Tsarlip First Nation on Vancouver Island. She carries the name Nash’mene’ta’naht, meaning “go-getter woman” given to her by Gerry Oldman from St’at’imc First Nation, and carries the name Xwii Xwa, meaning “echo”, given to her by Shane Pointe from Musqueam First Nation.

Atheana is a multidisciplinary artist working in 2D and 3D media. She learned wood carving from Aaron Nelson-Moody from Squamish First Nation, and Salish wool weaving from Debra Sparrow from Musqueam First Nation. She studied at Lanagra college from 2017-2020, working primarily in ceramics and printmaking. She engages in public artwork throughout the lower mainland, though murals, vinyl installations, and street banners.

Atheana has shown work internationally at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, USA, and at the Museum of Anthropology and Archeology in Cambridge, England. She spends her time learning from her elders and teachers, learning on the territory, and learning from the ancient belongings in museums.

To see more of Atheana’s work, visit atheanapicha.work.