The Spirit of Art

The city of Fort Langley is said to be the birth place of British Columbia, and there you can find the historic forts that established the fur-trading business by Canada's Hudson's Bay Company. A bunch of fascinating historical stuff happened there in those early days of settlement and colonization, but as this post is about art, I will leave the details for another time and place. Suffice it to say that it demonstrates the rich tapestry that is the story of this land.

Near the old forts, there's a cool part of town that has historic buildings and shops like antiques, ice cream, souvenirs, restaurants, and cafes. It's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon exploring the sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells of a place that for all intents and purposes is suspended in time.

In one of the roundabouts near the entrance, named Spirit Square, I came across a set of 'panels' depicting beautiful native art.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, indigenous people lived in the region that is located along the Fraser river, and where the fur-trading post was established by the Hudson's Bay Company.

Wood is one of the traditional materials that indigenous people used to craft canoes, utensils, housing, weapons, tools, and much more. Carvings are common in their art, which often reflected their metaphysical worldview as well as socioeconomic and cultural factors.

I saw a plaque that contained the explanation for each of the three panels, and the idea behind it. Animals like salmon, beavers, and wolves are common themes in stories and art of the pre-colonial nations as these animals are abundant, or at least were, in the region. Every piece of art has a story to tell, and I hope you enjoy the ones told here.

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