4 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Red and yellow cedar, acrylic paint, thread, light.

"Today the Nisga'a use the word Gihlee’e to describe embroidery; however, it was once used to describe a tattoo method called skin stitching. The textured lid represents the lava rocks from the Nisga'a Memorial Lava Beds. We believe our ancestors live within the lava rocks. When the volcano erupted roughly 270 years ago, it claimed the lives of an entire Nisga'a village and altered the course of the Nass river. Traditionally the lava rock was ground into a powder, mixed with a liquid and used as tattooing ink. The four clans: Raven, Eagle, Wolf, and Killerwhale are stitched in red sinew to represent our tattooed clan system and the method of skin-stitch tattooing. The red represents our blood-line and is also the colour of protection. The light within the box ties into the stories from when we lived in darkness before there was light on earth. I incorporated all of these elements on the bent box to stitch together the stories of our clan system, land, where we come from, and why we tattoo this identity into our skin. Our tattoos are from the land."  -Nikkita Trimble

THIS BOX IS NOW SOLD. FINAL BID $2,800.00

Artist Biography and Additional Work