St’át’imc-Stó:lō artist Frankie McDonald explores climate crisis through computer-animated video, to February 28, 2023
Láwa7 looks at the links between colonialism and environmental devastation
Still from Láwa7 by Frankie McDonald. Image courtesy Frankie McDonald
Libby Leshgold Gallery presents Láwa7 from 8 am to 9 pm daily to February 28, 2023 on the outdoor Urban Screen at Emily Carr University (520 East 1st Avenue) as part of the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program. An artist talk with McDonald in conversation with artist-designer Connie Watts, associate director of Aboriginal Programs at ECU, takes place November 17 from 3:30 to 5 pm in ECU’s Aboriginal Gathering Place
INDIGENOUS ARTIST FRANKIE McDonald has created a new animated video that explores the relationship between colonialism and pressing environmental issues. Told through the story of a young girl and a magical salmon, Láwa7 uses computer animation to bring traditional Northwest Coast formline artwork into a 3D environment.
McDonald is an artist of two BC nations: St’át’imc Nation on her father’s side and Stó:lō Nation on her mother’s. Originally from Lillooet, McDonald aims to make Indigenous art a part of today’s world and uses it to have Indigenous people’s voices heard.
McDonald began working on Láwa7 in 2019, a year when B.C. salmon populations BC hit unprecedented lows.
Frankie McDonald.
“I felt that I needed to spread the message that we need to protect the wild salmon if we want to keep them from becoming extinct,” McDonald says in a release. “I want to shine a light on the struggles the wild salmon go through. It’s not something people think about every day, and I want to bring awareness to what pollution, fish farms and pipelines do to our salmon population.”
In Láwa7, a young woman named Nahani goes to the river to fish but catches only trash. A magical salmon named Láwa7 transforms her into a salmon and takes her on a journey through the water. Along the way, Nahani finds herself galvanized to make change as a result of seeing so much damage to the natural environment.
The film points to the harmful effects modern industry can have on the planet and also reminds that individuals and communities have the power to help make a difference. Nahani is loosely based on Frankie’s grandmother, educator, activist, and Indigenous language revitalization researcher Ethel “Stelomethet” Gardner. A Stó:lō member of the Skwah First Nation and long-time part of the Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance, Gardner died in 2020.
“She was so inspiring to me as an Indigenous woman,” McDonald says. “She never let anything hold her back from accomplishing everything that she did. She was well-educated and fearless and that’s what really inspires me about her.”
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