Carly Nabess(she/her) is a 2-spirit Métis multidisciplinary artist who lives on the ancestral lands of the Tsimshian peoples. Carly is grateful to the Kitsumkalm and Kitselas peoples for welcoming her on their territories.Carly's work is a celebration of queer and Indigenous excellence.

As an intentional act of resistance to Canada's ongoing colonial oppression. With a deep-rooted connection to her community. Most of her work is informed by Métis style floral beadwork using many mediums, from paint to beads, tufting, and ink, creating contemporary beaded landscape paintings and more traditional Métis material art pieces.

Through her work, she explores themes of land, healing, Métis identity, diversity, and 2s+ experiences, often collaborating with youth, the host nation and other artists to co-creating murals that reflect their shared narratives.Carly is Métis, Scottish and Finnish. Her Métis lineage comes from her father Gayton Nabess, who is a Métis carver. They come from a long line of Métis artists. Her grandmother, Olive Nabess (née O'Neil), was born in The Pas, Manitoba, in 1935, to Rose Delaronde from Skownan, Manitoba, Treaty 2 Territory, and Alvin O'Neil. Her grandfather, Andrew ”Andy” Nabess was also born in The Pas to William "Bill" and Elizabeth Nabess (née Campbell). Carly spent her childhood berry picking and making bannock with her grandmother Olive, and listening to her grandpa Andy chat about Métis rights between hockey games.

Introducing her lineage is essential for Carly as it grounds her within her Métis community and reinforces her identity as an artist deeply connected to her heritage and culture.

She introduces her lineage because it situates her within her Métis community and identity.

Chase Gray is a 2S Musqueam and Tsimshian artist, who was born and raised in various Coast Salish territories. He grew up surrounded by family and culture, and has been active with Tsimshian dance since a young age.

With a growing love for art when he was young, he started to learn from the shapes, stories, songs, and dances around him, and being taught Northwest Coast Formline by his uncle. Chase entered the digital art space in May of 2021, originally drawing from a smartphone, and moving up to a tablet shortly after.

Exploring NWC Formline through unconventional shapes, nostalgic figures, and characters planted seeds for artistic growth and career building.

Ernest Swanson, who holds the traditional Haida name, Giinowaan, is a Haida artist and proud father, from Old Massett, British Columbia currently living on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen peoples.

As a matrilineal descendent of iconic Haida artist Charles Edenshaw and a grandson to the late Rufus Moody, Ernest continues his family’s legacy by creating traditional Haida art. He was "more or less" raised by his grandmother who recently passed. In 2004, he began to work with artists such as Jim McGuire, Christian White and Chief Edenso “James Hart”.

He has always been surrounded by artists and art-making. "I'm trying to think of my motivation for this work. Obviously it's cultural but it's funny you ask that because I've recently been trying to find meaning in my work," he said in a recent interview with the Steinbrueck Native Gallery. "I've been asking myself 'What am I adding?', 'What am I bringing to the community?'

Ernest is constantly working and reworking his crafts and the ways that he shows up in his community. "My idea is to always leave room for learning something new," he said.

Ernest has continued to display his works on regional, national, and international scales, working in wood, silver, gold, and argillite. Ernest works between the mediums of metal jewelry, visual art, argillite, wood, and totem pole carving. Recently, he has been creating miniature argillite pendants with engraved silver bezel settings and abalone inlays. "Carving is where I can escape," he stated.

Ernest also has a passion for working with youth, and has worked with diverse youth groups in HIV/AIDS awareness, mural paintings, drum making workshops, Haida language and history, dance classes, traditional storytelling, and designing workshops. He's worked with organizations including: The Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Canada, and the Old Massett Village Teen Centre.

Ernest works between mediums of metal jewellery, visual art, argillite, wood and totem pole carving. Each design concept is new and unique.engraving in 2004 under Haida jeweller Jim McGuire. He comes from a long line of established artists: his cousin is popular Haida carver Jim Hart and his grandfather was prolific Haida argillite carver Rufus Moody.

In 2005, Ernest started carving wood with Haida carver Christian White. This same year, he also won an Emerging Artist award from British Columbia’s Alliance for Arts and Culture. In 2009, Ernest graduated from Vancouver's Northwest Coast Jewellery Arts program under established Kwakwaka'wakw/Haida artist Dan Wallace. In 2010, he worked on a large pole with Jim Hart at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver, BC. Recently, he has been creating miniature argillite pendants with engraved silver bezel settings and abalone inlays.

Hayf Abichahine (he/they) is a professional photographer, entrepreneur, creator, fiercely proud parent, and deep lover of the ocean. He lives with his family on the unceded, stolen lands of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Watuth, and Squamish Nations.

Born in Beirut and raised in Vancouver, Hayf is the child and grandchild of Palestinian and Lebanese refugees hailing from Haifa, Chekka, and Beirut.

Hayf is a lifestyle, portrait and event photographer who uses his art to increase representation of Two-Spirit, trans, and queer people world wide.

He takes photos because he believes everyone deserves to be seen. And, when we are seen, amazing things happen. Representation matters and all of Hayf's art and photography is rooted in the drive to increase representation of otherwise commonly underrepresented people.

In 2024, in collaboration with Phil Gray, Hayf launched Cedar Roots Collective.

Ian Reid is a Heiltsuk artist and cultural leader, born in 1978 in Bella Bella, BC. where he lives and thrives with his wife and three children.

His art is inspired by the cultural legacy of his Heiltsuk elders, and enriched by his research into Heiltsuk and Northwest Coast art in museums across North America and Europe. Ian’s work has been featured in numerous galleries and exhibits, including portrait and transformation masks, totem poles, panels, cedar canoes, bentwood boxes, acrylics, ceremonial regalia, and other mixed media work. He mentors and trains other artists, including youth, in his home community of Bella Bella.

Ian is an advocate and activist with a long history of using his art to advance and uplift causes close to his heart, including Indigenous land defence and cultural resurgence efforts. He is a passionate supporter of our Palestinian relatives and committed to using his art and voice to advocate for a Free Palestine.

K.C. Hall (he/him) was born in Bella Bella, in Heiltsuk Nation territory on the central coast of BC. He belongs to the House of Wakas and descends from noted Heiltsuk artist Chief Robert Bell.

His work blends graffiti art with traditional formline and Heiltsuk language and meaning to create a style of his own.

Phil Gray is from the Ts'msyen and Cree First Nations of Lax Kw’Alaams, BC and Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.  Phil is committed to helping to revitalize and make known the artwork of Ts'msyen people.  He is most proud of the work that records the stories and history of the Ts'msyen people and his art that adorns traditional regalia, organizational logos, and other community centered work that allows him to give back and stay connected to the community.

Phil belongs to the Killerwhale Clan and his art is made of many different media including wood, hide, shells, metals, tattoo ink, prints, and fabric.

He began carving in 1998 with Salish artist Gerry Sheena. He also had the opportunity to work with David Boxley, Henry Green, and Rick Adkins early in his career.

Phil primarily works in red cedar and creates masks, paintings, panels, poles, sculptures, and drums. In September of 2003, Phil had three of his pieces donated to the Burke Museum in Seattle, WA. In 2005, Phil was featured in the Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, NY.

In 2007, Phil completed the Northwest Coast Jewellery Arts Program at the Native Education College in Vancouver, BC, under Kwakwaka’wakw/Haida artist Dan Wallace. Phil was included in two major exhibitions in 2009. The first was the Challenging Traditions Exhibition at Ontario's McMichael Gallery, a show that was dedicated to exploring innovative and experimental works from the Northwest Coast. The second was Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast at Vancouver's Bill Reid Gallery, which highlighted 23 established Aboriginal artists from BC, Washington State, and Alaska.

In February of 2010, Phil designed the helmet of gold medal-winning Skeleton racer Jon Montgomery. Montgomery held Phil's helmet throughout the Olympic awards ceremony. In 2012, Phil was included in the Vancouver Art Gallery's Shore, Forest, and Beyond Exhibition. In 2014, Phil was awarded a BC Creative Achievement Award for his contributions to the province.

In 2017, Phil won two major prizes: a YVR Art Foundation Mid-Career Scholarship and a REVEAL Indigenous Art Award, which was issued in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday.

Roger attended the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art for two years. His work has been shown at the Terrace Art Gallery and the Kitimaat Museum. In 2016, he received a scholarship from Vancouver-based company Native Northwest. In 2018, he won the President’s Art Award from Northwest Community College for a painting inspired by a traditional Chilkat blanket. Between 2018-2019, Roger apprenticed under Haida artist Corey Bulpitt. In 2020, Roger completed the Jewellery Arts Program at Vancouver's Native Education College.

Satsi Naziel (she/they/he) is a gender fluid, two-spirited Wet’suwet’en and Chilean artist.

They are of their mother clan the Gilseyh’yu (Big Frog), and Unist’ot’en (Dark House) of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Their father
clan is the Likhts’amisyu (Killer Whale/fireweed clan).

 They grew up connecting to their Wet’suwet’en ancestors on their Yintah (the traditional land of the Wet’suwet’en). They grew up hearing the stories, the history, and songs of the Wet’suwet’en People.

They care deeply for their Yintah, the ancestors who are buried there, and all life forms that live within it. The environment can be restored, respected, and protected, for all future generations to come.

They find passion, inspiration, and dreams in their traditional artform. They love to spread the healing, the reconnection and pride that comes with seeing and creating Northwest Coast indigenous pieces. They believe this artform like any other cultural aspect of the Wet’suwet’en, brings back the spirit of their nations’ people piece by piece.

Satsi has been an artist for most of their life, yet they have been practicing Northwest Coast Art since 2020. They learned the
art form from the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, where they have earned their certificate.

Satsi has created pieces for the BC Center on Substance Use, the BC Ministry of Health, Amnesty International and for their clan and community, among many other organizations.

They have taken part in group exhibitions such as Skeena Salmon Art Festival, Unfold, Ancestral, Northern Perspectives and more. 

Satsi knows the violent effects of colonization and is proud to create pieces with the Cedar Roots Collective for the Palestinian People.  

As we work through the trauma of colonization, we become our ancestors’ dreams through the decolonization and the reclamation of everything that makes us strong and beautiful. 

Yasakw (Shelly Samuels) is a Haida/Kwakwaka’wakw Artist who was raised and still resides on her maternal homelands of Haida Gwaii.

Her Kwakiutl name is Yasakw which has no direct translation but it is a name that belonged to her paternal grandmother. Her Haida name is Guudangaay TlaatsgaaJaad which translates to Strong Minded Woman and it is a name she received when she completed her degree. 

Shelly comes from a long line of Haida Yakgujanaas Clan women. Her Haida crest is Raven and her sub crests are three fin killer whale, dog fish. 

Shelly also holds her father Awasatlas’ Kwakwaka’wakw crests Thunderbird, double headed sisiutl and grizzly bear. 

Are you an artist Indigenous to Turtle Island or Palestinian who is interested in collaborating with Cedar Roots Collective?

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