Chris Lemoine (@ChrisLemoine@mastodon.social)

ourselves.space

137d

A visit to #Olympia with a grace note in an alley off Capitol Way. There was no credit nor translation I could find, but the word "st’əč’ás", from the #Lushotseed or Puget Sound #Salish language, transfers into standard English as "Stechass" or "Steh-Chass". It denotes some of the First Peoples who lived here, a long-gone village of theirs, & the area of today's Budd Inlet. The images seem to tell a story of seafaring, colonialization, and difficult encounters. #art #wallart #FirstPeoples

The figurative elements of this mural use and adaption of the ovoid, highly abstracted graphical language of Northwest Coast First People's art. A very tall, aggressive-looking, humanoid creature in black and white, wearing a red hat, walks behind what may be a deer or elk and a few water birds and marine animals. A large body of water and distant hills form the background. A white, worried or frightened sun or moon face overlooks the scene.

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The continuation of the mural still has a background of vast water, but the sky is in warm orange and yellow tones, not cool blue, and the hills are gone. A large fish emerges from the water and faces the walking humanoid approaching it. A crab, flying bird, and another jumping fish seem to witness the scene. People in canoes with hats woven from grass or other plant material travel in canoes, approaching the center. One of them stands at the shore, gesturing for the others to make land or signaling his intention to speak.

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