Marika Echachis Swan ƛ̓upinup: A Circle Strong Enough to Hold Both Sides

Opening reception: Thursday, November 13, 7-9 pm

The first solo-exhibition by Marika Swan, A Circle Strong Enough to Carry Both Sides explores her deeply woven understandings of the nature of duality held in all things. In elaborate, large-scale imagery, Swan depicts truths about the human experience through playful imaginings of spiritual realities. Using an emotional visual language entirely her own, Swan’s woodblock printmaking is informed by the rich philosophical and carving traditions of her Nuu-chah-nulth lineage. Introduced to printmaking as a tool for political organizing, her work speaks to the challenges and world we must face now. As the only public art museum dedicated to collecting works on paper, the Burnaby Art Gallery is honoured to host this exhibition of new and previous work.

Marika Echachis Swan ƛ̓upinup is a mother, artist, and community arts organizer of mixed Tla-o-qui-aht, Scottish, and Irish descent. Her main creative practice is exploring the Nuu-chah-nulth worldview through woodblock relief printmaking, often layered with other visual arts techniques, including carving, stencil, and photography. Marika’s extensive study of Nuu-chah-nulth ancestral treasures has informed a unique contemporary interpretation of the classic Nuu-chah-nulth aesthetic.

Image credit: Marika Swan, Surrender (detail), 2025, woodblock on paper, 89.0 cm diam. Photography: Blaine Campbell. 

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