Deni House Sacred Space Welcomes New Artwork With A Ceremony

Nine new pieces of artwork were unveiled yesterday (Thursday) afternoon at the Deni House in Williams Lake.

Following a prayer and drumming Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said he was very proud to be able to be a part of the opening ceremony for this Sacred Space.

“And very, very proud to be honouring the Scewepemc artist Autumn Christopher and the works he has been able to create to make this a safer place for not only our Secwepemc people but our Indigenous people throughout the Cariboo Chilcotin, and really throughout Turtle Island. Williams Lake is located in Secwepemc Territory, it’s Williams Lake First Nation, but it’s a hub for numerous different Nations that use it for their services.”

Artist Autumn Christopher said the nine images are suppose to represent the Secwepemc culture and what we did in our day to day life.

“One of them is the lake night divisions painting where it pictures our people fishing at night time. Another is a woman gathering during the Summer season while our men are out hunting, and another one with the animals local to our region and the significance roles they play in our day to day lives.”

Autumn said it took about one month to create the pieces along with the help of the Elders Committee who gave him advice and gave him suggestions that he could use.

He also explained how he got involved in this project.

“I happened upon Ervine Johnson and we luckily met together when I did a sketch of him when he was a guest speaker. I just done a random sketch and he really liked it so much that he brought me onto this project for the Sacred Space.”