Eliot White-Hill is a Snuneymuxw (Coast Salish) artist from British Columbia. Eliot received the Emerging Artist Scholarship award in 2021 and again in 2022 to assist with his attendance at Emily Carr University of Art + Design to pursue his Master of Fine Arts graduate degree.
Pictures of Eliot’s Scholarship artwork will be uploaded soon.
Website: kwulasultun.com
Instagram: @kwulasultun
Some Birds Strut, 2020
“This artwork is an abstract painting in traditional Coast Salish style. It references old spindlewhorls and honours the heritage of our culture while retelling those stories in new ways. The design honours movement and the energy of movement which brings us forward in space and time. It honours the movement of peoples around the world, and how YVR connects the Coast Salish world with the rest of the planet.
This artwork is special to me, it reflects my own learning experience over the past year and my movement as an artist as I experiment and learn and grow. I am a new artist and in the early stages of my learning, but in following with my snuw’uyulth, my teachings from my late great-grandma Dr. Ellen White, Kwulasulwut, I embrace all parts of that learning. She said sometimes you fall, you look around and feel embarrassed, what did you learn? All you learned was embarrassment. When you fall, look at the ground, feel it in your body, embrace it. Only then will you learn. These are parts of movement, and the movements required to learn. I look forward to what the future has for me as I continue to do so.
Coast Salish style painting representing a spindle whorl with four spiralling patterns with human faces in the middle of each. Four salmon rotate around the centre. The colours, blue, light green, and red ochre represent the energy of the land that helps us as we move. Pastel and oil stick details overlay the paint adding depth and energy to the gesture of the finger painting.”
– Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun
