Preserving Indigenous knowledge...

Salmon Woman and her children by David Boxley (1998)
Bainbridge Islands, Seattle, USA.

In these days of teaching and writing, I was reminded today of an artwork that I received in 1998 on my last trip to the USA and specifically a quick stopover in Seattle on my way to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

At the time I was working on a Ministry of Education contract and I decided to take a break had made plans to travel to the States to visit friends and to visit Seattle to learn more about "Native schools".

At the time, the NZ government was just starting to look at Kura Kaupapa schools i.e. Maori-medium lead schools and for me going to visit a Native American school in Seattle with their education infrastructure was something I was interested in, to research and learn more about their model of education.

I had the privilege of visiting a Native American school in Seattle and two public high schools of Garfield High and Rainier Beach High. It was the principal from the Native American school of whom invited me on a short tour to his local Bainbridge Island to meet with David Boxley (renown artist and former high school teacher) at an art class teaching local native Americans indigenous arts.

I stayed for the art class and they were a little surprised that I was able to draw the oval box-like shapes that are used in many of their art designs but when I explained that I had been an art student many years prior with my interest in art, they then understood.

The print of the Salmon woman and her children as pictured above was a gift from the principal as a sovereign of meeting someone from NZ (of Samoan descent) who was interested in Native American education.

The story behind the Salmon woman is an interesting account of the relationship between the local Native American people and their environment. It reminds me of the important roles that woman often play in indigenous cultures as in Sina for Samoan stories and cultural artifacts that we must continue to share with our children and for generations to come...