New bronze artwork at the base of The Reconciliation Pole, 2023. Photo: Owen Sopotiuk.
The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory is pleased to announce the completion of Reconciliation Pole: Bronze Disc Base project. On Friday, May 11, the final bronze disc artwork co-created by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) master carver Kayám̓ Richard Campbell, Max Chickite (Lekwiltok, Kwakwaka’wakw), and Haida master carver and hereditary chief James Hart, 7idansuu (Edenshaw), was anchored to Hart’s The Reconciliation Pole (2015-17) to Musqueam territory.
The detailing and carving of the bronze disc design took place in the department’s undergraduate studios at the Audain Art Centre from 2020 to 2021. Please visit here for the original announcement about the project.
Richard Campbell and Max Chickite carving into high-density foam for casting in bronze, 2021. Photo: Jeremy Jaud.
The new art, titled θəʔit, was commissioned with support from the Audain Foundation and the University of British Columbia.
The 15-foot-wide disc depicts four salmon carved by Campbell. The artwork name θəʔit translates to truth in English, which acknowledges the continued need for Indigenous peoples’ truths to be uncovered and remembered.
Details from The Reconciliation Pole (2015-17) by Haida master carver and hereditary chief James Hart, 7idansuu (Edenshaw).
As part of his vision for The Reconciliation Pole, Hart invited Campbell to design and carve the artwork for the bronze disc. The new artwork acknowledges that the pole – which was carved and raised according to Haida tradition – stands on Musqueam ancestral territory.
