It was standing room only on the evening of February 20, 2025, when the Nuxalk Nation welcomed the world into its past and present day with the opening of Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun. Co-curated by Snxakila Clyde Tallio (Director of Culture and Language, Nuxalk Nation) and Jennifer Kramer (MOA Curator, Pacific Northwest), Nuxalk Strong is the world’s first-ever dedicated exhibition of the Nuxalk, exploring Nuxalk ways of knowing through more than 60 Nuxalk historic treasures drawn from the MOA collections, other museums, and private and family collections.
The evening opened in spectacular fashion with speeches, songs, and dances performed by the youth dance group from Acwsalcta School, the Nation’s own K-12 independent school in Nuxalk Territory (Bella Coola Valley). Snxakila Clyde Tallio, an Alkw (language speaker, knowledge keeper, and potlatch speaker), hosted the event, thanking the Musqueam Nation for holding the exhibit on their lands, and welcomed attendees from across the region. Nuxalk Elders, youth, and elected and hereditary leadership all took the floor to express their joy in being reunited with the treasures of their ancestors and once again reiterating their desire to one day bring them home.
The name chosen for the exhibit, Nuxalk Strong, is a powerful phrase derived from a saying used by Nuxalk Elder Mabel Hall. As Hall used to say, Uts’i s-tlhilh Nuxalkmcilh — “Our Greatest Strength is Being Nuxalk.”
The display of these belongings expresses the importance of Nuxalk reconnection with their material heritage, made by the hands of their ancestors, and during the community opening, a private event held ahead of the public evening opening, Nuxalk descendants of these ancestors had the chance to connect with these treasures in a personal way.
Co-curators Tallio and Kramer have been working together for over 15 years, visiting various museums around North America and photographing Nuxalk treasures and gathering information from the archives. This exhibit dedicated solely to Nuxalk not only embodies their hard work, but also the dedication of many Nuxalkmc and allies over several decades.
“It’s amazing to see how many Nuxalk belongings are out there in the world,” Tallio shared. “It helps to remind us of how populous our Nation was before the Usqalits’ txw, the smallpox epidemic. There are more Nuxalk masks out there in the world than there are Nuxalk people alive today. This gives you an idea of how much our culture meant to our people and how active they were in their ceremonies.”
The practice of keeping Indigenous treasures in museums is full of conflict. This is not lost on Tallio, who acknowledges that colonial systems have contributed to the anguish Indigenous people feel to be separated from their ancestral belongings. Tallio explained that through this work himself and Jennifer discovered dozens of belongings that had undoubtedly been taken, indicated by the fact that there are no records of who created them or how they were acquired.
“It has been a view of ours for a long time that museums are colonial trophy cases, taking things that are most precious to us far away and putting them on display,” said Tallio. “But I have to share that in my experience now, museums are transforming because we have Indigenous people working in these spaces. The staff are working with the Nations, so now we begin with protocol, and we can connect with our treasures and hold them in our hands.”
Conversely, there are also documented instances of Nuxalk Elders parting with or selling their treasures in an effort to preserve the knowledge for future Nuxalkmc. Sharing some history about how Nuxalk people viewed museums, Tallio cited Elders who, understanding that the Nuxalk culture and language would become dormant for a time, worked with anthropologists, such as Thomas McIlwraith and Franz Boas, to document and preserve Nuxalk culture for the Putl’lt – those not yet born.
“We are only here in this space and able to do this work because of those Elders, who made that decision to document and share their treasures in museum spaces,” said Tallio. “This is what we call in our language putl’altnicik, thinking and planning for those not yet born, and nuyalcalhlayc, clearing that path for the next generation to succeed.”
The exhibit begins by walking the visitor through the four territories of the Nuxalk Nation – Ista-Sutslhmc (Dean Inlet), Nuxalkmc (Bella Coola Valley), Kw’alhnamc (Kwatna), and Talyuumc (South Inlet) – and generates a deeper understanding of the Nuxalk principles of ancestral governance, illustrating the four pillars of Smayusta (origin stories), Klhalhta (knowledge and practice), Tcamatlhh (homelands), and Kw’alhtnta (lineage, crest representing first ancestors). It also touches on the importance of Sputc (eulachon) as a key source of nourishment and culture. These foundational teachings are critical to ground the visitor in the essence of Nuxalk governance, beliefs, and cultural practices before viewing the sacred belongings throughout the exhibit.
Past and present generations of Nuxalk artists are woven throughout the exhibit, reiterating the theme of nuyayanlh, reciprocal generosity. Treasures over 100 years old are coupled with current works from accomplished Nuxalk carvers and artists, and the voices and knowledge of Elders are spoken alongside present-day audio supplied by Nuxalk Radio. A yakyanlh (goat wool robe) from the late 1800s is displayed alongside a S7ayulh (Thunder being) mask from 1988, and the breadth of modern-day Nuxalk artists, carvers, weavers, and knowledge keepers represented is staggering, illustrating the strength and permanency of Nuxalk culture in the face of colonization.
Family connections are evident in the present-day photographs throughout the exhibit, directly linking Nuxalkmc today with their ancestors and their belongings. Many of these descendants were present at the opening, representing the unbroken chains of Nuxalkmc family lineages and marking the first time they have been reunited with their treasures.
These treasures are playing an integral role in the relearning and revitalization of Nuxalk culture and ceremony, something Tallio sees as essential to healing. While they are housed in MOA for now, the ultimate goal is to bring them home to a place where all Nuxalkmc can access them for their own cultural and spiritual benefit. “For me, the healing is in seeing the revitalization of these ceremonies,” said Tallio. “This is all about living our Stl’mstaliwa — the full human experience.”
Nuxalk Strong will be at the UBC Museum of Anthropology from February 20, 2025 – January 4, 2026, in the O-Brian Gallery. For more information, visit moa.ubc.ca/exhibition/nuxalk-strong
