Arthur Renwick stately monuments II, detail, 2001

Using black and white photography, cedar, aluminum, copper, and traditional Northwest Coastcrafts, Arthur Renwick constructs totemic images which comment on the character of two communities existing in one place: Kitimaat, a small fishing village populated by Haisla First Nations People and Kitimat, a post war company town, built and developed by Alcan. The artist, native to both, explores the historical symbols of his people, in particular the totem pole, referencing the corporate land use which has forever changed his home. Building contemporary totems with the materials of his ancestral heritage, Renwick creates poetic juxtapositions, which interrogate the relationships between his traditional Haisla culture and the industrial economy introduced by Alcan and the ways in which they have influenced one another.

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