Marianne Nicolson

Artist, researcher, and activist of the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw Nation, Marianne Nicolson uses her art to advocate for Indigenous ancestral land rights and to preserve the sacred rituals of her community in Gwa’yi (Kingcome Inlet). Whether through her monumental public art commissions, her writing and public speaking, her community interventions or her sculptural installations, Nicolson negotiates the complex dynamics between visibility and invisibility. Nicolson refuses to abide the logic of compensation through visibility as practiced by political and cultural institutions. This logic only perpetuates the colonial-capitalist paradigm of exploitation and extraction that strips traditional cultural symbols of their meaning, purpose, and potency. [Source: MOMENTA, 2023]