KWAKIUTL CONTEMPORARY ARTIST SONNY ASSU BORN
Assu, born in Richmond, British Columbia (BC) and given a suburban upbringing by his grandparents in North Delta, BC, didn’t learn of his Kwakwaka’wakw heritage until he was age 8. He studied painting at Kwantlen College and then at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where he combined his interests in pop art with traditional drum-making and cedar bark weaving. Assu was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2012, 2013, and 2015. In 2017, he was the recipient of a REVEAL Indigenous Art Award/Prix en art autochtone from the Hnatyshyn Foundation. Assu also is author of the graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold. His story, ‘Tilted Ground,’ follows Assu’s great-great-grandfather as well as the Potlatch Ban in Canada.
Sources: “Sonny Assu,” Eiteljorg Museum. Retrieved 7/28/2022, Sonny Assu - Eiteljorg Museum “Biography,” Sonny Assu, Interdisciplinary Artist, sonnyassu.com. Retrieved 7/28/2022, Biography - Sonny Assu | Interdisciplinary Artist | sonnyassu.com Wikipedia Photo: Vancouver 125, 7/9/2011. “Coke-Salish” (2006). Permissive Use.
Indigenous America Calendar 