Indigenous Art Walk
This walking tour provides locations and information for publicly accessible Indigenous art located at SFU Burnaby and adjacent Burnaby Mountain Park. Users are encouraged to visit each work in person using the app’s geolocation features.
Indigenous art includes many different practices that have developed separately from the rules and principles of Western art. Many Indigenous artists working today are informed by the artistic traditions of their ancestors, yet express themselves in a wide variety of styles and media. The resulting works reflect the individuality of each artist, but are also an embodiment of a way of life and a way of knowing unique to that people.
Land is integral to an Indigenous worldview, but not just in the sense of the physical earth we walk on. In the context of Indigenous ways of knowing, land is a much larger and complex concept, and is better understood as a relationship to the entire universe and what extends beyond it. All of the works you encounter in this walk are alive with specific cultural meanings, historical references, and recount culturally specific understandings of the human and the more-than-human.
Regrettably, each stop presents only a brief introduction to the artist and the cultural knowledge that has informed their work. We strongly encourage the pursuit of further knowledge regarding the artists and the pieces that most strongly speak to you.
