From left: Artists Xwalacktun, James Hart, and Levi Nelson at the unveiling ceremony. (Photo by Scott Brammer; courtesy the Audain Art Museum).

By Perrin Grauer

The monumental two-part work is on permanent display outside the Audain Art Museum in Whistler.

The Audain Art Museum in November unveiled a major new collaborative public artwork for permanent display outside its location in Whistler, BC.

The monumental two-part work consists of the cast-bronze sculpture The Three Watchmen by James Hart (7idansuu) which sits above a carved aluminum band entitled The Great Flood (Ti A7xa7 St’ak’), a collaboration by Xwalacktun and Levi Nelson (Svpyan).

The two-part work stands on the shared, unceded territory of the Lil’wat (Lil̓wat7úl) Nation and Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) Nation.

The Three Watchmen, which is finished with a red ochre patina, depicts three sentinels who protect people both in this world and in the spirit world, according to a press release by the Audain Foundation. Wearing conical hats and with hands on bended knees, these supernatural protectors regularly appear on Haida crest poles. James, a hereditary Haida chief who is deeply involved with cultural and political planning and decision-making within his clan, community and the Haida Nation through the Hereditary Chiefs Council, was born in Old Massett, a town in the Haida Gwaii archipelago.

Full article here: https://www.ecuad.ca/news/2021/collaborative-artwork-james-hart-xwalacktun-levi-nelson