Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Canada
Bio
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (b. 1957, Canada)
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is one of the most prominent and outspoken contemporary First Nations artists working today and is projected to be one of the most relevant of our time. He is of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent. Yuxweluptun is Salish for “man of many masks,” a name given to the artist during his initiation into the Sxwaixwe Society at the age of fourteen. A strong advocate for contemporary Indigenous issues in Canada, Yuxweluptun uses First Nations imagery and surrealism to explore environmental issues and Indigenous civil rights.
Especially relevant to his practice are elements of Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast design, and Western landscape tradition. Ovoids, the foundational building blocks of classic Northwest Coast Indigenous design, are unique in Yuxweluptun’s work where they are used to convey critical issues of the human plight such as self-determination, self-government, social conditions, and Indigenous philosophy.
Yuxweluptun’s political roots can be traced back to his parents. His father was founder of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and Vice President of the North American Native Brotherhood; his mother was Executive Director of the Indian Homemakers Association of British Columbia. With his parents as role models, Yuxweluptun was involved in Native politicization, attending meetings and demonstrations and mailing out copies of The Native Voice, the province’s first Native newspaper.
Yuxweluptun has chosen art as a way to voice his political concerns, exposing environmental destruction and the struggle of Native people. He believes that his artwork stimulates dialogue between Native and non-Native people.
Major exhibitions of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s work have taken place at the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada; the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, USA; the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, USA; the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun artworks are held in major private and corporate collections throughout North America and Europe.
Interview
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun in conversation with Marc Johnson on the unceded and ancestral coast Salish territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on June 21, 2019.
This video is part of a research project initiated by Marc Johnson, commissioned by the Vancouver Biennale and supported by the Cultural and Scientific Service of the Embassy of France to Canada and the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia.
Unceded Territories
Unceded Territories is an interactive virtual reality experience created from First Nations artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s iconic pop-surrealist artwork. Part interactive gaming, part art activism, Unceded Territories links colonialism with climate change, and has us think about our role in the destruction of the environment. The powerful beats of A Tribe Called Red pulse throughout the experience and create an anthem for change. Unceded Territories had its World Premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival as an Oculus-based VR experience. The Vancouver Biennale has adapted the original game to make it accessible for all to play on mobile devices.
