Gwaai Edenshaw

Gwaai Edenshaw is a Haida artist and filmmaker from Canada.[2] Along with Helen Haig-Brown, he co-directed Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵʹuuna), the first Haida language feature film.[3]

Gwaai Edenshaw
Born1977 (age 43–44)[1]
Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia
Pen nameHluugitgaa  (Haida)
OccupationArtist, filmmaker, writer
NationalityCanadian
Notable worksEdge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵʹuuna)
RelativesGuujaaw (father)
Website
gwaai.com
Two Brothers, a totem pole carved by Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw, Jasper, Alberta (2011).

Background

The son of noted Haida artist Guujaaw (Gary Edenshaw), he was raised on Haida Gwaii.[4] At age 16, he went to Vancouver to apprentice as an artist with Bill Reid.[5] He received a diploma in jewellery design from Vancouver Community College.[2] As of 2018, he lived in Sechelt, BC with his partner, musician Kinnie Starr.[6]

Career

As an artist, Edenshaw has worked primarily in woodcarving and jewellery, as well as some work in sketch and painting.[4] His work has been exhibited in a number of galleries in both Canada and the United States,[2] and he curated a show on indigenous erotica in 2013.[7]

He created Haidawood, an animated web series which premiered in 2007, and cowrote the theatrical play Sounding Gambling Sticks with his brother Jaalen Edenshaw in 2008.[2] He wrote some Haida-inspired music for Bruce Ruddell's 2010 rock opera Beyond Eden.[8] He is a founding member of Q’altsi’da Kaa, a group which promotes traditional Haida storytelling.[2]

In 2017 Edenshaw and Haig-Brown began production on Edge of the Knife.[9] Based on the traditional Haida story of Gaagiixid the "wild man", who loses his grip on reality in the forest before being returned to his community in a healing ceremony,[3] the film had its theatrical premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.[10]

The film won the awards for Best Canadian Film and Best British Columbia Film at the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival,[11] and the Sun Jury Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.[12] It won several year-end awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, for Best Canadian Film and Best British Columbia Film, Best Director and Best Actor (Tyler York).[13] It was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2018.[14]

References
  1. "Gwaai Edenshaw – Lattimer Gallery". Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  2. Ryan McKenzie and Kevin Hinton (May 28, 2018). "Lunch with Edge of the Knife co-director Gwaai Edenshaw". BC Business. Archived from the original on 2018-07-23. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  3. Porter, Catherine (June 11, 2017). "Reviving a Lost Language of Canada Through Film". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-11-13. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  4. Sandals, Leah (September 13, 2018). "The Haida Language on Film, in Depth and at Last". Canadian Art. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  5. Meredith, America (Fall 2018). "Gwaai Edenshaw: Haida Carver And Interdisciplinary Artist". First American Art Magazine.
  6. "Music Vancouver's Kinnie Starr drops the Doug Romanow-produced "Big World"". HipHopCanada. April 29, 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2020. [Starr] now calls Sechelt, BC home; and shares her life with partner, Gwaai Edenshaw, a renowned carver and the son of Guujaaw.
  7. Griffin, Kevin (November 18, 2013). "RezErected: Saying the 'p' word at the Bill Reid Gallery". Vancouver Sun.
  8. "Beyond Eden builds a beautiful bridge". Vancouver Sun, January 23, 2010.
  9. Marsha Lederman, "Making history on Haida Gwaii" Archived 2017-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. The Globe and Mail, June 22, 2017.
  10. "First feature film shot in Haida premieres at TIFF" Archived 2019-01-02 at the Wayback Machine. Unreserved, September 14, 2018.
  11. "In Brief: VIFF names BC Spotlight winners". Playback, October 11, 2018.
  12. "Amanda Strong, Lisa Jackson win prizes as ImagineNative fest wraps" Archived 2018-12-27 at the Wayback Machine. Playback, October 22, 2018.
  13. "Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards Haida-language 'Edge of the Knife'". CityNews, January 8, 2019.
  14. "TIFF's Canada's Top Ten list skews a lot younger this year" Archived 2018-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Now, December 5, 2018.
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