Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun's large-scale new canvas hits auction block in support of residential-school awareness and survivors
Online auction runs May 25 to June 22 for Indian Residential School, Leaving the Shallow Graves and Going Home
Indian Residential School, Leaving the Shallow Graves and Going Home
VANCOUVER-BASED ARTIST LAWRENCE PAUL Yuxweluptun says his moving new painting Indian Residential School, Leaving the Shallow Graves and Going Home depicts “children walking back home in a spirit form, thereby completing a spiritual journey and allowing closure for their memories.”
The large-scale new work, measuring six by eight feet, will be offered by Heffel Fine Art Auction House through an online auction from May 25 until June 22. It’s estimated it will sell at $125,000 to $175,000. All proceeds from the sale of the work will go to the Orange Shirt Society and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
Vancouverites can see the painting in person from May 25 to June 8 at the Heffel Gallery at 2247 Granville Street, before it travels to that gallery’s Toronto location, June 16 to 22.
The canvas was commissioned by Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel (which manages institutional assets for several First Nations clients) to commemorate the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Macaulay & Co. Fine Art, which represents the renowned Coast Salish artist, donated its commission.
“This is a history painting, a recording of how Natives have been treated and where we are at now. It’s a voice for those who had been forgotten, and their stories should be told in a resounding way,” the artist said in the announcement today.
Celebrated for his vibrant, politically charged surreal paintings, the sometime sculptor, virtual-reality, and performance artist graduated from Emily Carr University, where he received an honourary doctorate in 2019. Collected and exhibited around the world, Yuxweluptun saw a huge 30-year retrospective called Unceded Territories at the Museum of Anthropology in 2016.
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