As part of a special 15th anniversary edition of the invitation-only Independent Art Fair in New York, East Vancouver’s own Fazakas Gallery will be exhibiting the work of Chief Beau Dick, a celebrated Kwakwaka’wakw artist and activist who died in 2017. 

Dick’s work has been featured at the Independent since 2010. Known for his wooden masks, he was considered one of the Northwest Coast’s most adaptable and gifted carvers. 

Dick was born in Alert Bay, BC and spent his life living in Kingcome Inlet, Vancouver, and Victoria before settling back in Alert Bay to live and work. In this New York exhibit, which takes place from May 9 to 12 at Spring Studios in Tribeca, guests will be able to view three of Dick’s masks, which were created over a 20-year period and hold significant Indigenous cultural meaning.

The masks portray the Wild Woman of the Woods, also known as the Copper Woman (formally known as Dzunuḵwa or T ̓ sonoqua), a giant creature believed to have lived in the forest and associated with wealth and healing powers.

“To have three different Dzunuḵwa masks in a room together is extremely rare and offers a special opportunity to witness Beau’s mastery of revisiting the same figure in new and innovative ways each time,” shares LaTiesha Fazakas, director and curator of Fazakas Gallery. “Beau would make a piece then sell a piece. He never visited Dzunuḵwa over and over in succession.”