Revitalizing our Connections

Photo: of an art installation called Revitalizing our Connections
Olympic Village

Revitalizing our Connections

By Ocean Hyland

“When our lands, rivers, lakes, and the Salish sea are healthy, our people are healthy.”

Ocean Hyland is a Coast Salish artist from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Her work spans the realms of painting, engraving, wood carving, weaving, and digital design. Hyland’s work often incorporates traditional Coast Salish design elements and explores themes of environmentalism, language revitalization and Indigenous stories. She has studied in Indigenous focused programs at Native Education College and Simon Fraser University. She also credits the many artists and mentors who have helped guide and shape her into the artist she is today.

I am deeply inspired witnessing and taking part in the work my community (Tsleil-Waututh) has led in stewarding and restoring the health of our territory. There have been plants and animal kin that have returned and many rebuilt connections to the ecosystems around us. Our livelihood has always relied on an interdependence of many faunas and flora, many of which have disappeared from our lands and waters in the last century and a half. My intention is to pay tribute to those species we have helped bring back in recent years. This work has and is being led by Tsleil-Waututh people in many different forms along with the assistance of other organizations and supportive groups. The overall goal is to re-establish a healthy relationship with the environment around us because we too come from the land.

This artwork was commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with InTransit BC.