Qatuwas Festival

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Qatuwas Festival

1993

First Nations, Kwakwaka'wakw, born 1953

The Qatuwas Festival celebrated the revitalization of First Peoples' sea-going canoe culture that had been dormant for several generations. The first modern canoe journey-initiated by Emmet Oliver (Quinault), Frank Brown (Heiltsuk) and others-took place in 1989 at Golden Gardens in Seattle, with nine traditional dug-out canoes making the journey. The next "paddle" was to Bella Bella on the central B.C. coast in 1993, called Qatuwas Festival, where more than thirty canoes and three thousand people gathered for three days of cultural celebrations. This poster was made to honor this historic event and was distributed at the festival.

Poster

18 x 24 1/2in. (45.7 x 62.2cm)

Gift of Simon Ottenberg

SC2009.2.6

Not currently on view

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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