VANESSA SERROUL
VISIONARY ARTIST

Mímexwel / nteqwtíqw
​“Unclean Water”

​This first canvas piece reflects the world as it is today, the world I grew up in while witnessing climate change, the pollution that has increased rapidly over the years and how many vehicles are on the road compared to only 20 years ago. Seeing the snow-cap’s decrease to nothing every drive we take along the Sea-to-sky highway and watching those who lead our towns, cities, provinces and country with dollar signs in their eyes not caring about the importance of our lands, waters and the species that rely on them, but the money that those resources bring in, which will be the only thing that remains when everything, including us, are long extinct.
The background of the painting contains colour-shifting black acrylic that covers the entire canvas and drips down from the top; this reflects the watersheds that are affected by the different environmental issues that are being impacted by a variety of different reasons such as water vessel traffic, pipelines, highways and railroads, these among many other man-made structures have been and are still being placed along waterways. These structures are causing a rapid decline in many different species and their habitats, including salmon and their spawning channels due to fish farms, open -net pens, and spawning deterrents which prevent the salmon from spawning in their natural spawning grounds. These constructs are taking away our sacred and traditional lands that are important to our cultures and replacing them with money and literal power. I have depicted this on the canvas in the form of gold salmon mirroring each other but not connected. This is a representation of how we are disconnected from our culture and traditions, and we are not in control of our waters and lands all the while being engulfed by city skylines and technology which is shown in silver chrome surrounding the disconnected salmon with blank eyes, a visual representation to our blindness from “economic development” and our lack of taking measures to restore and conserve our environment and remembering why it is important to do so. 

q'éytl'thet /  q̓it̓
​“heal”

​This second canvas piece represents how I would like to see our world for our future generations; clean, healthy and connected. If we continue to care for our environment and our watersheds and pass on our knowledge and teachings to our children and grandchildren, they will learn from the mistakes we’ve made and they will gain a better understanding of how important our planet is, in which they will share guidance and help educate others to the importance of not just our watersheds but our lands and species that need our help in order to continue the work of keeping our lands safe and healthy for all of our futures.
I have used a variety of mediums and colours to reflect the mission and values within the canvas by creating the salmon cycle that continues the circle of life and is surrounded by a silhouette of evergreens and clear waters that will heal the pain that we’ve inflicted on our planet. The orange hue within the design comes from the red rock that slides down the hillside into the Fraser River along the Fraser Canyon in which I have created a watercolour blend to incorporate into the painting, representing one of our most important watersheds within the S'ólh Téméxw and the Stʼatʼimc Nation, both areas that I have called home.