Up Close from a Distance

UBC Okanagan Visual Arts Exhibition

Hosted by the UBCO Visual Arts Course Union (UBCOVACU))

Coralee Miller

Coyote Returns to Life, 35.5 x 49 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Coyote Returns to Life, 35.5 x 49 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Photo: Yuri Akuney

Turtle’s Dream, 16 in. diameter, acrylic on wooden panel, 2021

Turtle’s Dream, 16 in. diameter, acrylic on wooden panel, 2021

Photo: Yuri Akuney

Frog Woman’s Daughters, 20 in. diameter, acrylic on wooden panel, 2021

Frog Woman’s Daughters, 20 in. diameter, acrylic on wooden panel, 2021

Photo: Yuri Akuney

Coralee Miller

I am a Syilx (Okanagan) artist who portrays cultural pride through my paintings. I gain inspiration from my family and the oral stories from my community. I explore oral stories as a way of looking deeper into Syilx cultural values and bridging their moral lessons into a modern day understanding. I focus on moments of humour and the importance of humility through the ever boastful and immortal trickster spirit, Senklip (Coyote). What I take from the Coyote stories is the importance of identity, being true to ourselves and remembering that we are all fallible. In Syilx belief, people are part of an interwoven relationship between the land, water, animal, and spirit. I do my best to portray this relationship in my paintings by depicting scenes of connectedness between the natural world and the spiritual.

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