Ts’eets’iks (The Ground) & Raven Shines a Light - 2021 Charity Box
Nakkita Trimble and Nathan Wilson

Ts’eets’iks (The Ground) & Raven Shines a Light - 2021 Charity Box
Nakkita Trimble and Nathan Wilson
SOLD
THIS BOX IS NOW SOLD. FINAL BID $4,300.00
16 1/2" x 19 1/2" x 6 1/2"
Abalone, Acrylic Paint, Cedar.
Raven Shines a Light
"Raven is the messenger and trickster in many northwest coast legends. His history is long and connected between the Nations throughout the coast. He is the one who brought the light to earth when we all lived in darkness. His message always carries a lesson for the young people."
- Nathan Wilson
Nathan Wilson and his wife Nakkita Trimble collaborated on their pieces this year.
This collaboration became a contemporary story of the raven shining a light on our shared history as Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island in relation to generational effects of colonization.
“Ts’eets’iks”
The Ground
Luu-gawsukwhl wilbiḿ hlaa sakskwhl k’ubats’ihlkw – Our house is quiet after the children left.
Now what?
Sim luu-nag̱aahlaḵshl g̱oodiy̓ dim wilaa wiliy̓. I am conflicted about what to do.
Everyday I think of them.
Everyday I cry for them.
I miss them in my body, my soul, my spirit.
Everyday I remember them.
Kw'itkw'ootkw. More than one person is missing
Yukwt amg̱oodinhl ligitnaa. Someone is thinking of you.
I asked K'amligiihahlhaahl (creator), “Where are my children?”
Some siblings returned home alive and grew older,
had their own children,
grandchildren,
great grandchildren.
We are the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of those who endured complex trauma.
W̓aagatkw n̓iiy̓ ahl gimxditgwiy̓. I am lonesome for my brother, sister.
K'amligiihahlhaahl asked the land to hold the babies until Nax̱noḵ arrived.
The land, the ground, our mother, agreed.
Dim hilyalt'iniy̓hl hlgiy̓-sa awa'ahl hli wil bakwdiit, diya, lax̱ han̓iijoḵ. She said, I will return my children to where they come from.
I wanted to honour the children who are revealing the truth and legacy of where our children, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, and grandfathers were held in the land as babies. They are still being found and returned home. When you look at a cross section of an umbilical cord under a microscope is it looks like a northwest coast ghost face. The umbilical cord is our connection to our mothers and grandmothers, as well as our children and grandchildren. Our bloodlines are connected through the generations and our blood memory is long. We are still here.
This is not history, this is happening. These are complex emotions, especially in this isolation of the pandemic. The only way for me to express emotions that cannot be expressed was to look at my language and phrases we have to understand what our parents, and grandparents were experiencing from their Indigenous lenses. The powerlessness their parents and grandparents were forced to experience. The lack of empathy of the colonial government, crown, rcmp, and religious institutions speaks volumes to those they forcibly traumatized us in an attempt to remove the people from the land. We are the land.
Tobacco down, prayers up.
All my relations.
- Nakkita Trimble
This piece is part of our annual Charity Bentwood Boxes auction ending December 4th.
To place a bid, you can call us at 604-732-4556, or you can reach us by email at info@lattimergallery.com
Artist Biography and Additional Work