This photo is of Haida/Squamish carver, Jordon Seward, working on a cedar mask. The First Nations of coastal and mountain BC have a long and very rich history of visual art practices at once recognizable as a coherent and unique tradition and also clearly having variation in style from Nation to Nation and artist to artist. The Haida have long been particularly famous for their work, and this fame has supported a vibrant local industry of painting, carving and other works for centuries. Having been mentored by elder carvers like Reggie Davidson, Seward is one of the current generation of masters. Cedar has a vital place in Haida culture, with wood being used for carving, the inner bark used for weaving, and the trunks of the monumental elder cedars being revered for both their beauty in place and for their occasional and careful use in the creation of large canoes and the ceremonial poles for which the coastal First Nations are most famous.
His open carving studio is integrated into the Gin Kuyaas art gallery in the town of Old Masset on Haida Gwaii, the traditional island territory of the Haida. From the gallery windows, you can look across Masset Inlet to old growth cedar forests and to territories which are the current confrontation zone over uncontrolled logging of cedars on Haida territory. While the Council of the Haida Nation is ostensibly supposed to have control over their territories, the provincial government colludes with industry to circumvent Haida control and to ignore existing regulation of logging protecting Haida territory and in particular the monumental cedars.
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It makes for depressing conversation looking out across the inlet and talking about the clear cutting happening not too far away over the visible ridge line, but it is still a gorgeous spot.
I also really like this photograph. I like it for the composition, for the beauty of the mask, and for capturing the detail work that goes into one of his carvings. I also really like it because it serves as a great jumping off point for following a conversation we were having during this photo shoot about whose art is a photograph of a piece of art.
As we talked about doing this photo and video shoot and I told him how I would cite him and have links to his website and the gallery, he said how he was happy for the photos to be out there and that he appreciated the attention to his work. He then mentioned how he and other artists have had the experience of going to art galleries and seeing photos taken of their work being sold themselves as art without asking permission or even citing whose work was photographed. I agreed that this was really important to consider as a photographer.
As I take a photograph, what makes the final product a piece of art? What creates the value of the work and whose creativity should we be celebrating? If such a photo were sold, who should get what share of the profit and based on what principles?
Taking this photo as a starting point, I set up the light, composed the shot, thinking of details like line, action, color. There were a lot of other photos around this one, but I like how this came out.
However, clearly central to what makes this a beautiful photo for me is Seward’s gorgeous mask, involving far more work than I put into simply capturing it with light. Further, the action that I am catching is Seward’s precise control over the brush. Again, Seward’s art in action that I happened to capture with light.
Of course, we didn’t have to proceed from convivial banter to concrete negotiation. A hallmark of First Nations culture in the region is generosity, and Seward offered that I was free to do as I like with the photo as long as a clearly cite him. If you are ever on Haida Gwaii, go check out Gin Kuyaas art gallery to see his work in person. You can also find him online at, and his prices for his amazing work are quite reasonable for the skill behind them and the time he puts in.
Also, if you are interested in purchasing an original print of this photograph, contact me at culturalvariant@gmail.com. Any proceeds from sale of the prints of the photo will go to a fund for the defense of Haida territory against unconsented logging and for the upholding of Haida sovereignty on Haida Gwaii.