ARTIST
Anuximana The hearts speaks in colour words :: Sarah Woods There’s a collective force of energy coming together during these dynamic times. Across different mountain towns, various beating hearts are joining in resonance of an unseen spirit echoing a shift in consciousness. It’s the return of the sovereign woman. One who aligns with Mother Earth and through various expressions, evokes great change through her unique wisdom of heart. For Anuximana, that unspoken call from within is as an artist. “You pronounce the “xi” in my name like a hissing cat. That’s how my elders taught me,” she explains. Anuximana is Nuxalkmc, from the Nuxalk Territory—the land surrounding the rivers and coastline near Bella Coola, BC. At 21 years old, she’s just one year shy of her ten-year career as an artist. When
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most of her peers in school were cutting class, she was absorbing knowledge of an ancient craft through elders, and making it her own. “My art speaks in colour. That’s my language. That’s how I tell the loud stories I’m here to voice. I don’t know how, I just know it happens,” is the way she describes the nameless space of being that births such beauty. “Hours feel like minutes. Something is working through me. It’s just… natural,” she adds. There’s a beautiful simplicity about creations of heart. They’re never expressed by asking how, but rather offered through one’s surrendering to self. “I was working on Mother Moon. For a long time, she just sat there. A blank face. But I felt I needed to finish her. So, I asked… what do you want to be? And then all these colours danced in my head. I couldn’t stop painting and drawing. The next day… she was done.”
RACHEL TOPHAM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF YVR ART FOUNDATION
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