Nuxalk Strong – First Exhibition of its Kind at the Museum of Anthropology
byNuxalk Strong, a first-of-its-kind exhibition dedicated to showcasing the rich culture and worldview of the Nuxalk Nation, located in Bella Coola, BC, is opening next month at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC.
Nuxalk Strong at the Museum of Anthropology
- Dates: February 21, 2025 to January 5, 2026
- Location: Museum of Anthropology (UBC – 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver)
- Admission: Book online in advance or at the door
Showcasing Indigenous sovereignty and reclamation, Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun is co-curated by Dr. Snxakila—Clyde Tallio, Director of Culture and Language, Nuxalk Nation, and Dr. Jennifer Kramer, Curator, Pacific Northwest at MOA.
The exhibition will present contemporary Nuxalk actions, rooted in ancestral rights and responsibilities, to strengthen and create robust futures for its community, including the revitalization of Nuxalk language, self-governance, stewardship, and ceremonial practices.
Featuring treasures and artworks housed at MOA, and loans from six participating museums and private collections, Nuxalk Strong will highlight the strength and healing of the Nuxalk Nation following colonization, and how the community is now working with museums to support its efforts to safeguard belongings, treasures and ceremonies for future generations.
The exhibition will feature 71 treasures, many on loan from the Royal British Columbia Museum (Victoria), Burke Museum (Seattle), Glenbow Museum (Calgary), Manitoba Museum (Winnipeg), Museum of Vancouver, private collections, and from Nuxalk families. Highlighted items on display will include masks representing Syut – supernatural beings; yatn – raven rattles; and yakyanlh – mountain goat wool robes, including the yakyanlh that belonged to Tallio-Hans recently located in Alberta after being severed from the community 40 years ago; as well as examples of ceremonial items held within a family’s box of treasures, such as a ringed cedar bark potlatch hat and talking stick.
As part of the exhibition’s commitment to repatriation, there will be a significant collection of Nuxalk masks, regalia, and cedar bark weavings returned to the community at the close of the exhibition in 2026. These items were originally gifted to ethnographer TF McIlwraith when he worked with the Nuxalk in the early 1920s. McIlwraith’s descendants will return these physical treasures – as well as Nuxalk names that were ceremonially given to their father/grandfather – to the community, showcasing an important display of reconciliation in action.
The Nuxalk Nation have lived for more than 14,000 years on the central Northwest Coast. They are recognized globally for their distinct aesthetic and unique style of painting, carving and weaving, as well as the radiant colour of blue used on their masks and ceremonial regalia. These historic treasures materialize sovereign rights and responsibilities to steward the lands and waters and continue to inspire contemporary Nuxalk artists to once again tell the Smayusta – ancestral family origin stories.
Related: Museum of Anthropology Reopening
