Stalashen Killerwhale

Price: $625

Artist: Candace Campo

Description: Stalashen (Killer Whale) This acrylic painting is a both a dream and an aspiration. It appeared on mdf board relatively effortlessly as I’ve been painting stalashen (killer whales) with a fiery since childhood and it very much depicts a dreamlike state. There are not too many people in our generation who do not identify the stalashen as a majestic mammal. Most of us are absolutely fascinated with the orcas of the Pacific seas. I am no different but here is my story about the great killer whales. The stalashen (killer whale) is one our four main clans in our shíshálh (Sechelt) Nation. My grandmother was born in stalashen territory, Pender Harbour, on a tiny island called selkaleto. She raised a large family, was a midwife and a very good fisherwomen in her lifetime and I was told by my own mother that like my grandmother I would be a fisherwomen too, so I am. My grandmother Sarah Jane Baptiste, whose ancestral name I carry, xets’emits’a, is a member of the wolf (wéwekw’-nách-em) clan from xenichen (the Princess Louisa region in Jervis Inlet). They say that the wolf is the land counter part of the killer whale. What we have in common, the wolf pack and the killer whale pod are our connection and devotion to family and our love to journey. The stalashen (Killer whale) is the wolf of the sea and the wolf is the killer whale of the land. Since I was a child I have dreamt endlessly about killer whales. Although I am never the killer whale myself, I transform into a salmon or a seal. With humour, I recognise the salmon and seal are literally the stalashen’s food source and in the circle of life we are all connected. On another note, as a child and youth I had fished for herring and salmon with a passion so my connection to water and my love for the sea is obsessive. The sea is my element. I own Talaysay Tours, a first nations interpretive and kayak company and when I am paddling I am relentlessly on whale watch, as well as porpoise, dolphin, seal and salmon watch. I saw these water creatures more frequently as a child. I would be fishing on my grandmother’s little skiff with my two older cousins and out of nowhere we would be surrounded by a hundred or more porpoises. What a gift. In childhood I’ve seen pods of killer whales, porpoises and the rare grey whale travelling through our Sunshine Coast, south coast waters. The reports of declining populations are understood and yet as of recent there is a lot of sightings of whales and the other sea mammals again in our area. The excitement is in the air. Some people attribute these more frequent appearances of the whales with the conservation efforts of herring which is the food source for the spring salmon which is the food source for the stalashen. I have an elder uncle Ronald Jeffries (kwatamus) who grew up in Egmont in our village of kwatamus which is situated right in the famous skookumchuk. He said when he was a young boy there would be literally hundreds of killer whales that would travel into the skookumchuk to fish and that there were so many that the pods of stalashen would keep him up all night when they made their splashes and distinct sounds to communicate. My hope is that my children, grandchildren and their children be able to witness these magic giants of the sea. ?ul-nu-msh-chxw kem ?ewkw mes siyaya (thank you and all of my relations) Candace Campo xets’emits’a, ?ala xenichen (wolf clan) shíshalh (Sechelt) Nation Acrylic painting on Board 54"x41"