Celebrated Tahltan-Tlingit artist Dempsey Bob has opened a new exhibit at the North Pacific Cannery in honour of those who worked there, including many members of his family over the 120 years that the cannery was in operation.
Bob, joined by dozens of friends and family, opened his show Salmon: Cannery Days, on Friday. He hopes the new exhibit will reconnect peoples’ roots to the last of the north coast canneries, celebrate salmon and honour the thousands of people on the coast who helped build the cannery and processed salmon there for generations.
“Salmon is the foundation of our culture,” Bob said. “Salmon is what gave us time and food. It’s spiritual to us too. If we lose the salmon; eagles are gone, ravens are gone, killer whales are gone, animals are gone. And we’re next.”
