Between 2020–2022, an advisory circle of six Indigenous women gathered on Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada, to re-presence connections to fish, water, and family around the Salish Sea. This work was witnessed by an extended group of family, friends, and people living and working on Galiano. These gatherings were documented in video, sound, and photography by collaborating artist-producers, curators, and community members. This work was first exhibited on Galiano Island at the Yellowhouse Art Centre (Summer 2022), and then re-curated and installed across the water in the historic fishing town of Steveston (Summer 2023–25) at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum to share these personal stories of loss, resistance, and reconnection, and the importance of holding onto those stories in the face of colonial fishing policies that continue to separate Indigenous peoples from fish and fishing.
The project and exhibition are the continuation of a lifetime of research by Coast Salish / Sahtu Dene artist Rosemary Georgeson and emerges from her decade-long collaboration with filmmaker and scholar Dr. Jessica Hallenbeck. This work has led to the recovery of the identities of Rosemary Georgeson’s ancestral grandmothers, reconnection with their descendants, and the represencing of family and their ongoing connections to fish, water, and territory. In collaboration with Dr. Kate Hennessy, these new works have been produced and curated for public exhibition and dialogue.
In our contribution to Field/Works II: Generating Ecologies of Trust, we (co-curators Georgeson, Hallenbeck, and Hennessy) present a selection of works from the exhibition that foreground this concept of represencing (Georgeson and Hallenbeck, 2018).
First we share a series of photographs by artist Kali Spitzer (Dene/Jewish), who was invited to document an act of represencing: the historic gathering and traditional food harvest, preparation, and sharing convened by the advisory circle for extended family, friends, and witnesses at Dionisio Point at the northern end of Galiano Island in March, 2022.
The second is a sound work by artist Richard Wilson (Coast Salish) that weaves voices of the advisory circle, reflecting on their enduring connections through water, fish, and family and resilience in the face of ongoing systematic colonial oppression – as well as static and interference in the form of crashing waves, crackling fire, and inaudible speech and language as central to this collective experience.
While a focus of our two earlier gatherings had been on video recording stories of reconnection on land, the advisory circle and witnesses made the decision to document this gathering at Dionisio Point in photography and sound only. The gathering and reconnection of family at this location was the first of its kind in over 100 years. These photographs and sound work represent deep collaborative practice, culturally embedded listening and witnessing, and articulations of kinship relations that challenge and even begin to repair violent colonial structures of power.
The work shared here was produced on and around Galiano Island, British Columbia, which lies within the shared, asserted, and unceded traditional territories of the Penelakut, Lamalcha, and Hwlitsum First Nations, as well as the shared, asserted, unceded traditional territories of other Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples.
Please listen to the audio work Skoden as you view the photographs below.
Skoden. Richard Wilson, 2022. Sound work (5 min. 46 sec.).
Featuring the voices of The Water We Call Home Indigenous Advisory Circle: Rosemary Georgeson, Eva Wilson, Fay Blaney, Christie Lee Charles, Karen Charlie, Kimi Haxton.
Hayley Baines, Ayla Georgeson, Amber Georgeson, and Jordan Wilson learn from Elders to harvest clams and oysters and steam them in a rock-lined pit in the sand. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elder Augie Sylvester shares a song to begin the day of harvest, feast, and represencing. He is joined by Janice Wilson (right) while a young participant Lucie Hennessy Neumann listens, left. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Daughters of project Advisory Circle member Christie Lee Charles, Kimora Charles and Hoya Charles, sit by the pit cooking fire at Dionisio Point, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Christie Lee Charles and Hoya Charles on the beach at Dionisio Point, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elder Richard Charlie digging clams at Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elders Richard and Karen Charlie opening oysters harvested and steamed at Dionisio Point. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Jeannine Georgeson removing steamed clams from the cooking pit to share with family and witnesses. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Rosemary Georgeson and granddaughter Amber Georgeson look on as the cooking pit fire burns down. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Documentation of the exhibitions and a companion symposium with project contributors, scholars, and regional policymakers are available on our multimodal website The Water We Call Home.
See more about the territorial acknowledgement here.
Georgeson, R. and Hallenbeck, J. (2018). We Have Stories: Five Generations of Indigenous Women in Water. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Vol. 7(1): 20–38.
Between 2020–2022, an advisory circle of six Indigenous women gathered on Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada, to re-presence connections to fish, water, and family around the Salish Sea. This work was witnessed by an extended group of family, friends, and people living and working on Galiano. These gatherings were documented in video, sound, and photography by collaborating artist-producers, curators, and community members. This work was first exhibited on Galiano Island at the Yellowhouse Art Centre (Summer 2022), and then re-curated and installed across the water in the historic fishing town of Steveston (Summer 2023–25) at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum to share these personal stories of loss, resistance, and reconnection, and the importance of holding onto those stories in the face of colonial fishing policies that continue to separate Indigenous peoples from fish and fishing.
The project and exhibition are the continuation of a lifetime of research by Coast Salish / Sahtu Dene artist Rosemary Georgeson and emerges from her decade-long collaboration with filmmaker and scholar Dr. Jessica Hallenbeck. This work has led to the recovery of the identities of Rosemary Georgeson’s ancestral grandmothers, reconnection with their descendants, and the represencing of family and their ongoing connections to fish, water, and territory. In collaboration with Dr. Kate Hennessy, these new works have been produced and curated for public exhibition and dialogue.
In our contribution to Field/Works II: Generating Ecologies of Trust, we (co-curators Georgeson, Hallenbeck, and Hennessy) present a selection of works from the exhibition that foreground this concept of represencing (Georgeson and Hallenbeck, 2018).
First we share a series of photographs by artist Kali Spitzer (Dene/Jewish), who was invited to document an act of represencing: the historic gathering and traditional food harvest, preparation, and sharing convened by the advisory circle for extended family, friends, and witnesses at Dionisio Point at the northern end of Galiano Island in March, 2022.
The second is a sound work by artist Richard Wilson (Coast Salish) that weaves voices of the advisory circle, reflecting on their enduring connections through water, fish, and family and resilience in the face of ongoing systematic colonial oppression – as well as static and interference in the form of crashing waves, crackling fire, and inaudible speech and language as central to this collective experience.
While a focus of our two earlier gatherings had been on video recording stories of reconnection on land, the advisory circle and witnesses made the decision to document this gathering at Dionisio Point in photography and sound only. The gathering and reconnection of family at this location was the first of its kind in over 100 years. These photographs and sound work represent deep collaborative practice, culturally embedded listening and witnessing, and articulations of kinship relations that challenge and even begin to repair violent colonial structures of power.
The work shared here was produced on and around Galiano Island, British Columbia, which lies within the shared, asserted, and unceded traditional territories of the Penelakut, Lamalcha, and Hwlitsum First Nations, as well as the shared, asserted, unceded traditional territories of other Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples.
Please listen to the audio work Skoden as you view the photographs below.
Skoden. Richard Wilson, 2022. Sound work (5 min. 46 sec.).
Featuring the voices of The Water We Call Home Indigenous Advisory Circle: Rosemary Georgeson, Eva Wilson, Fay Blaney, Christie Lee Charles, Karen Charlie, Kimi Haxton.
Hayley Baines, Ayla Georgeson, Amber Georgeson, and Jordan Wilson learn from Elders to harvest clams and oysters and steam them in a rock-lined pit in the sand. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elder Augie Sylvester shares a song to begin the day of harvest, feast, and represencing. He is joined by Janice Wilson (right) while a young participant Lucie Hennessy Neumann listens, left. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Daughters of project Advisory Circle member Christie Lee Charles, Kimora Charles and Hoya Charles, sit by the pit cooking fire at Dionisio Point, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Christie Lee Charles and Hoya Charles on the beach at Dionisio Point, March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elder Richard Charlie digging clams at Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Penelakut Elders Richard and Karen Charlie opening oysters harvested and steamed at Dionisio Point. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Jeannine Georgeson removing steamed clams from the cooking pit to share with family and witnesses. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Rosemary Georgeson and granddaughter Amber Georgeson look on as the cooking pit fire burns down. Dionisio Point, Galiano Island. March 2022. Photograph by Kali Spitzer.
Documentation of the exhibitions and a companion symposium with project contributors, scholars, and regional policymakers are available on our multimodal website The Water We Call Home.
See more about the territorial acknowledgement here.
Georgeson, R. and Hallenbeck, J. (2018). We Have Stories: Five Generations of Indigenous Women in Water. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Vol. 7(1): 20–38.