August 25, 2023

Now open: The Water We Call Home at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum

Our new installation of The Water We Call Home is now open at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum in Steveston, B.C. A soft opening took place in July 2023 with the Welcoming the Sun event at the museum. We will be holding an official opening event in October, 2023.

Between 2020-2022, an advisory circle of six Indigenous matriarchs gathered on Galiano Island to re-presence connections to fish, water, and family around the Salish Sea. This work was witnessed by an extended group of family, friends, and people living and working on Galiano and documented in video, sound, and photography.

This project has been brought across the water to Steveston (Summer 2023-25) to share these personal stories of loss, resistance, and reconnection, and the importance of holding onto those stories in the face of colonial fishing policies that continue to separate Indigenous peoples from fish and fishing. 

The project and exhibition are the continuation of a lifetime of research by Coast Salish / Sahtu Dene artist Rosemary Georgeson and emerges from her decade-long collaboration with Dr. Jessica Hallenbeck. This work has led to the recovery of the identities of Rosemary Georgeson’s ancestral grandmothers and reconnection with their descendants. 

Works in sound, video, and photography by Richard Wilson, Rosemary Georgeson, Kali Spitzer, and partners, along with archival photos and newsletters, honour the stories of connection through water, fish, and family. 

This installation is curated by Rosemary Georgeson, Kate Hennessy, and Jessica Hallenbeck.