The Okanagan Nation has accepted the unique responsibility bestowed upon us by the Creator to serve for all time as protectors of the lands and waters in our territories, so that all living things return to us regenerated. When we take care of the land and water, the land and water takes care of us. This is our law.

-syilx Water Declaration excerpt

Working in the medium of vinyl, Front Lines explores a political approach removed from Louis’ traditional acrylic on canvas work. Using the aesthetics of street art to prompt discussion of indigenous sovereignty, and the contradictions between the words and actions of our politicians and judicial system, Louis references legal documents and political quotes illustrating how colonial approaches to land use, ownership and indigenous rights are structured to suppress the rights and independence of indigenous populations.

Louis stated “When we speak to the health and well being of our people, we speak to our responsibility to maintain the health and resiliency of the tmxʷ ulaxʷ (land) and the timxʷ (Four Food Chiefs). As our existence is intertwined and woven together with all other beings on this land, an alteration or destruction of this natural world will impact our direct relationship of living in harmony and balance. It is in this belief that we understand our inherent responsibility to protect the land and its waters.”

Sheldon Pierre Louis, a member of the Syilx Nation, is a multi disciplinary Syilx Artist. Sheldon's ancestral roots have influenced his works in painting, drawing, carving, and sculpting. Sheldon sits on the board of directors for the Arts Council of the North Okanagan in his second term as well sits at the Board for the Greater Vernon Museum and Archives. In his political capacity he also sits at the Greater Vernon Cultural Plan Committee. His work has been published in the Arts and Council Guide for the North Okanagan 2016 and 2017 as well as many news publications. Sheldon assisted Okanagan Indian Band attaining the 2016 FPCC Youth Engaged in the Arts Award and recently was awarded the FPCC 2020 Sharing Across Generations Arts Award. Sheldon is the lead visual artist of the Kama? Creative Aboriginal Arts Collective & is a member of Ullus Collective, both groups based in Syilx Art. He is also a member of the Re-Think 150: Indigenous Truth Collective a group of indigenous and non indigenous allies working to educate society of indigenous and environmental issues.

For more information about Louis and his work, please visit his website.

My Horse was Hit by Lightning explores ecology and masculinity in the context of anthropogenic climate crisis. The exhibition uses equipment to deconstruct the relationship between human and non-human. A 4x4 driver experiences bumpy terrain through suspension, padded seats, and steering columns. A gamer experiences their controller while their space-marine experiences weaponized body armour. Sportsmen, gamers, and outdoorsmen experience their equipment. Equipment is a mediator of human and nonhuman, a strained and inaccurate binary.

Lucas Glenn is an emerging, Okanagan-based artist. He's a 2015 graduate of UBC's Bachelor of Fine Arts program, and in fall 2021 will be attending University of Victoria's Graduate Studies. Glenn creates sculptures, installations, and digital works. His work mines science fiction and fantasy to address the systems of power that accelerate our climate crisis. He works with found materials like electronics, fake fur, lumber, camping gear, and snowmobile parts. With synthetic and natural materials, he aims to deconstruct the false boundary between human and what we call nature.

Glenn has exhibited at the Kelowna Art Gallery, the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Headbones Art Gallery, the Vernon Public Art Gallery, and Island Mountain Arts. For his work, Glenn received a 2017 Okanagan Arts Award, and a 2014 UBC Creative Studies Department Award. He exhibits regularly in collaboration with artist and brother, Mat Glenn. Lucas Glenn recently completed the Marie Manson Virtual Artist Residency in collaboration with Salmon Arm Arts Centre and Secwepemc Elder Louis Thomas (Neskonlith).

Mat Glenn is a graduate from the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program with a major in visual arts and a minor in art history. Glenn is an emerging artist from Kelowna BC specializing in sculpture, installation, printmaking and digital media. His research explores materialism and ecological thought in the context of mass extinction. Glenn has curated exhibitions in the Okanagan including Chasten My Fantasies of Human Mastery at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. This spring he was awarded the Creative Studies Department Award and exhibited at the Vernon Public Art gallery in the group show Emergence.

What is the Colour of the Wind? belongs to a new series of works “Color Natures” developed by Charles Chau since 2016 that aims to explore an experimental painterly style. Chau explains: "The process of adding layers and textures of color paints onto the canvas is itself multiple, evolving phenomena." 

Through observation, imagination, and other reflective interactions Chau builds marks in his paintings over days, weeks, or months, and in some works years of dialogue between him and the world around him.

Charles Chau is a contemporary artist originally from Hong Kong. He has hold solo exhibitions "Mountain Vastness" at the Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong (2013, Black Series); and the prestigious Opposite House, Beijing (2014, White Series) with his mega-size installations and paintings. 

Many art critics note that his work draws inspiration from modern architecture and traditional Chinese calligraphy. Chau holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Hong Kong, major in Philosophy and Fine Arts, and is now residing in Kelowna.