Archaeology student combines passion for art and visual ethnography to illustrate final project in graduate field school

Citlalli Gonzalez arrived at the new field school in Sts’ailes this past summer curious to see what the experience would bring.

“As far as I know, there are not many field schools such as this one that are aimed almost exclusively at learning from the land and engaging with the community in a meaningful way,” says the archaeology and anthropology undergraduate student.

While the course was primarily aimed at graduate students, Gonzalez was prepared for the challenge, having already taken a course with field school instructor Morgan Ritchie in Indigenous Cultures of B.C. at Douglas College and after receiving encouragement from archaeology professor Dana Lepofsky.

To complete the course, students submitted final projects that complement their individual research interests and benefit the Sts’ailes community. Gonzalez's contribution to the community project was inspired by her academic interest in visual ethnographic methods and rooted in her passion for drawing.

To visually complement a series of land-based stories recorded and transcribed by graduate student Urbashi Raha for the purpose of preserving oral histories, Gonzalez drew up sketches of illustrations to depict teachings and themes for a young audience. She then finished them in Adobe programs after getting some help using the software from her mother, who is a professional illustrator.

“One of the things we learned [from community Elders] in the field school is the concept of cultivating our gifts,” Gonzalez explains. “We each have a gift, and it is in our best interest to cultivate it so that we can do good unto others.”

With her combined anthropological knowledge and artistic background, Gonzalez knows a thing or two about bringing storytelling concepts to life on a page. However, she says that she remained mindful of her own limitations throughout the process as someone from a different culture.

“I am not a Coast Salish person; the ideas I have are informed by my previous experiences, including the work we did in the field school,” says Gonzalez, who has called Canada home since moving from Mexico 13 years ago. “I hope to have done some justice to the fluidity and wisdom of Sts’ailes knowledge keepers, storytellers, and community members, who so generously shared with us their teachings and helped me to reflect on my own role as an artist.”

During the field school, Gonzalez experienced a new and valuable opportunity as an archaeology student. She recalls a visit to an archaeological site along the Harrison River that was once an ancestral longhouse, which remained uncovered after a previous excavation. This allowed her to see the site’s stratigraphy, layers in the ground that tell the history of the area, in-person for the first time, which was eye-opening.

“I think about time as such an abstract thing,” she says. “And seeing all the layers of occupation was a very raw and true testament to the Sts’ailes ancestors and present community members’ connection to their land, culture and way of life.”

Gonzalez says she will carry her experience in the field school with her for a long time.

“It was a privilege and an honour to have experienced an immersive environment in which we were asked to reflect on our own role in decolonizing research.... I hope that I can continue to deepen my relationship with communities, especially the Sts’ailes, in my role as a researcher and anthropologist.”