Artist Statement
“Small Lives, Big Fires”
When we speak about wildfires, we often measure loss through human eyes: homes destroyed, communities displaced, and belongings turned to ash. As an Indigenous artist, I am taught to understand the land as more than a place we live – it is a living relationship, and the animals who inhabit it are our relatives. Their displacement and loss are therefore not separate from our own grief.
This collection of 4 x 4 inch mixed-media works created for this show honours the animals who were displaced, injured, or lost to the flames. Their small scale reflects how easily their lives can become overlooked within larger conversations about wildfire and human loss.
I use wood as both material and storyteller. Through the use of traditional/contemporary Indigenous design cross-hatching, it gives the feel of ash, and through the use of mixed media, I create animal forms that emerge from the marks of fire. I incorporate red as a symbol of life, spirit, remembrance, and honour. The red carries the stories of these animals beyond the physical destruction, allowing their presence to be witnessed and acknowledged in the spirit world.
These works are an act of remembrance and responsibility. They ask us to recognize that when a forest burns, an entire community of beings is affected. The loss of an animal is not simply an environmental statistic, it is the loss of a relative and a thread within the living web that connects us all.
Biography
Christine Mackenzie is a Kwakiutl First Nations artist, facilitator, and keynote speaker whose multidisciplinary practice is rooted in Indigenous storytelling, cultural reconnection, and relationship to the natural world. Working professionally as an artist and facilitator since 2009, Christine creates across wood burning, carving, murals, sculpture, drums, installations, and mixed media.
Born in Kelowna and raised in Richmond, BC, Christine’s artistic journey has been deeply shaped by her experience of reconnecting with her Kwakiutl identity and cultural roots. Her mother, a member of the Eagle Clan from Bella Coola and a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, is part of the family history that inspired Christine’s exploration of identity, belonging, resilience, and the importance of reclaiming stories.
Mentored by Haida elder, artist and facilitator Anastasia Hendry, Christine learned to use art as a pathway for dialogue, education, healing, and community connection. Her practice brings Indigenous perspectives into contemporary spaces, creating opportunities to engage with Truth and Reconciliation, empathy, cultural safety, and our responsibilities to one another and the land.
For Christine, “Small Lives, Big Fires” are more than portraits. They are acts of witnessing. They ask us to expand our understanding of loss, to recognize animals as relatives within the living web of the land, and to remember that when a life disappears from the forest, the land remembers and so should we.
Instagram: @sneakynativeart