Haisla Collins

 When I was thinking about what “Of the Moment” meant to me I thought about my day to day life. When this whole thing happened I started to build a garden, and get seeds and buy plants. And my daughter hangs around enjoying the garden with me, and I talk to the kids next door, at a distance of course; but my life is very much close to home. The things that are going on in the world haunt me, including covid, the indigenous rights movements and climate change. And my daughter sees that, and she sees me sad and wants to console me. I find that when I am in my garden I can imagine the future, I can see the things around me growing including my daughter. I see the roots in my hands as I move a smaller plant into new soil and watch it adjust and flourish. So I call this work “Trying to Pay Attention to Things that are Growing”.

Haisla Collins is an award winning artist of Tsimshian, Nisga’a, Gitxsan mixed European ancestry. She was born and raised in Vancouver BC, but is connected to communities along the Skeena River and Northern BC. She is known for her striking expressionist North West Coast Indigenous style and her images of Indigenous women, trees, landscapes,the cosmos and indigenous story telling. She is most well known for her work Sisters, Daughters, Clan Mothers: Honouring Indigenous Women and Girls” featured above the elevators on the main floor of the Vancouver Public Library and her collaborative work and management of “Spirits of the Realms” (at 600 Beatty Street and winner of the 150+ City of Vancouver Indigenous mural contest). She is a painter, drawer, printmaker, beader, art teacher and project manager of Indigenous Women Artists collective. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University and was recently was awarded an Alumni Award from Langara College for her work in community arts programming. She is also singer, songwriter and harmonica player for blues and roots band “Haisla with Nasty, Brutish and Short”.