Rande Cook, Vatican Mask, 2010. Ceder acrylic paint. | Courtesy of the artist.

Vatican Mask is one work from Urban Thunderbirds / Ravens in a Material World, a unique, bold and beautiful exhibition of contemporary First Nations art at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Presented are new and recent works from four Vancouver Island artists: Coast Salish lessLIE and Dylan Thomas, and Kwakwaka’wakw Rande Cook and Francis Dick. Rande Cook and lessLIE are co-curators.

Through painting, photography, sculpture and mixed media installations, all four artists honour traditional forms and expand them to convey contemporary themes which express the plight of First Nations people. These themes investigate personal stories, community histories and current events. The Idle No More movement is another direct influence on the exhibition.

Vatican Mask was donned by artist Rande Cook while visiting the Vatican in 2010 and this is vividly represented in one of his exhibited photos. Although fearful of reprisals from Vatican security, Rande and his friend Luke Marston wore masks and interviewed each other throughout Saint Peter’s Basilica. Like the trickster raven in First Nations Northwest Coast culture who brings fire and light to man, by performing this act, Rande shed light on the church that had abused his people, especially in the form of supporting the residential schools that tried to wipe out their identity. Doing this in the heart of the Roman Catholic Church was a transformative experience that changed his fear into a courageous act: “I am standing here today with a mask to tell the church that we are alive and strong. We are here forever!”

Urban Thunderbirds / Ravens in a Material World is currently on till January 12, 2014. For more information visit: http://www.aggv.ca/urbanthunderbirds