Survivor Truths: The Art of Reconciliation

My name is Jeffrey Cook. I’m from Huu-ay-aht First Nations. My traditional name I received back in 1985 and that’s Yaalthuu-a. That came from my grandfather. That was his name.

I do remember there’s a lot of sports I played. Basically it was, first of all I developed an interest in the sports because a lot of people played sports at the school. And it was kind of an escape for us, I guess for lack of a better word, the drudgery of the day to day life there. My sister was there, but I didn’t get to see her because she was, they had a separation between us. So, we didn’t get to talk to each other. The only time I got to see her was on Sunday afternoons, I believe, we were allowed to visit each other. Like the whole school would intermix.

When I first saw the painting, I vividly recalled that “Gee! This is something from my past,” you know when I was a young, six, eight, ten, twelve-year-old that, I didn’t have… When you’re in residential school you didn’t generally get to keep any of your keepsakes to go home with you they’re usually just, they either destroy them or put them in the garbage or whatever. Once I saw my painting I became pretty emotional. I don’t generally become emotional, but I did at that time. I do recall in my childhood that there were a lot of birds around in our area and so I kind of think that’s what inspired me to do a painting like this. That’s something I lost, I guess, when I was a child, is my past.

I’m a hereditary chief from our Nation and I have a curtain. When the potlatches were banned people used to display all their worldly belongings and ownership of stuff on the front of their houses. They used to paint on a, say a bedroom sheet or something. They used to paint that and when they saw, the Indian agent come around they used to take it down and go hide the curtain wherever. So it still carries on to this, doesn’t carry on as far as the Indian agent, but people still follow that tradition of putting their history on curtains. So, I decided to replicate of my painting on the curtain. Just to let people know it is a part of my history. And when I pass it down to my grandson, he’s going to remember and tell the story. I just want to try and come up with some ideas on how we move forward from there. What we can do. And have that conversation just by telling our story.