Taking a walk down the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, it’s easy to see the prevalence of pain; neglect and poverty is spread across a range of fragmented communities. While these diverse communities exist in a shared space, a local grassroots art project sees them as lacking a symbol to rally behind, a physical representation of their unity through oppression. Enter the Survivors’ TotemPole project.
The project aims to raise a totem pole somewhere in the heart of the Downtown Eastside. Spearheaded by Raven Haida Carver, Skundaal, also known by her English name, Bernie Williams, the Survivors’ Totem project aims to provide the Downtown Eastside with a physical manifestation of not just the communities’ struggles, but also their bonds. Symbolizing the resistance, persistence, and inclusion of their communities, the carving aims to combat the exact opposite: oppression, neglect, and exclusion.
I sit with Skundaal in the common area of the Sacred Circle Society. The workbench nearby is a hodgepodge of machinery and art supplies. The pool table is working double time as its backup, housing crafting tools and billiard balls.
“This community has a big history,” she explains. “The Survivors’ Pole is about the history of who we are.” Her confident demeanor carries the discussion forward. “It’s going up,” she says, “just pull the community together and start fresh.” This is at the core of the project, the joining of fractured communities that share a common struggle.
“I think you know that’s my big thing, because we are so divided out here. I think that this pole is just giving [people] that hope, that hope for everyone who wants some change here.” And according to Skundaal, people want change.
The Downtown Eastside faces many problems. Basic human needs such as adequate housing still aren’t being met. “It’s very scary,” she says, “When I talk to the homeless people up here, they’re afraid. They wonder where things are going, where they’ll be in the next couple of years.”
These basic needs are still lacking in the Eastside, and their absence has spurred activism in many of its residents. “They want the simplest things, basic human rights that everyone should have, and to have proper housing for themselves. And you know at the end of the day, that the people in this community have come together to fight for this.”
Skundaal often considers the perceptions of Vancouverites; she contemplates the outsider’s view of the Downtown Eastside. “There’s such a stigma down here,” she explains. “When they talk about the Downtown Eastside, they see the drunkenness, the addictions.” She believes that it’s hard for people to look past the common tropes that are applied to the residents of the area. “I am just mindful,” Skundaal says. “There is a reason why these people ended up down here, and they [all] have their own stories.”
It’s at this point in the conversation that I all too casually use the term “homeless.” She stops me and speaks, “They are never homeless; they are houseless. They have a home. They are just needing a house to live in.”
The Survivors’ Totem aims to disassemble these common misconceptions. “It’s just this big stereotypical mindset. What [Survivors’ Totem] is trying to do is to go and educate. It’s all about education.”
The community of activists behind the project don’t see these people through the common lense. “I don’t take things for granted, because things can happen to you so quick out here, or even in your own home, and you could end up down here. It’s the most giving and welcoming community that I’ve ever been in,” expresses Skundaal. “They are wonderful people down here, but we have to lose this mentality.”
The medium behind the art has its roots in First Nations culture, specifically Haida, but it’s intended message is not exclusive to these nationalities. The pole, as a symbol, is intended to unite a plethora of cultures in the Downtown Eastside, some of which have been oppressed throughout Canadian history. “I’m hoping [that] this pole will unify us,” says Skundaal, “I think about the land we are on, [and] I would like to acknowledge the four Coast Nations here.”
The medium itself expresses these ideas through the materials and design. The lumber, dated to be over 982 years old, originates from BC’s own Haida Gwaii. Once completed, an eagle will perch at the top. “In my culture, the eagle is the closest messenger to the creator,” explains Skundaal. “Our prayers, they go with it.”
Underneath this eagle, a raven will sit. “The raven is about transformation,” she continues, “It’s about what all of us have gone through, and how we’re transforming [ourselves] everyday.” Nestled below the raven, will be the whale: “The whale is the largest mammal of the waters. [Their size shows] how strong they are, and this also [represents] the people,” she explains. At the base of the pole, holding the other animals up, will sit the mother bear.
“I’m a female carver,” she explains — a rare occurrence in Haida tradition — “So when we [other female carvers] carve it, we always put it at the bottom, where the women hold and carry [the weight]. This animalistic imagery intends to weave together the narrative of the people who have lived, and are still living, in the Downtown Eastside.
Creating a piece to represent all these ideas is a tall order, but Skundaal is determined. “We can never right the wrongs,” she explains, “but we can sure as heck make a statement and move forwards.”
You can support the Survivors’ Totem Project through its Kickstarter page at www.kickstarter.com/projects/695807368/survivors-totem-pole. They will be accepting donations up until August 3, and the pole raising ceremony will take place in September 2014.
