Hazel Wilson's Warning the Hunters Away, four robes from History Robes: text and images courtesy Marion Scott Gallery
"Poor Thing," 2006, wool appliqué, leather, wool Melton, buttons, thread, paint
In this work, Wilson pictures the introduction of smallpox, a disease that was first brought to Haida Gwaii by European sailors. According to oral histories told to Wilson by her elders, the first transmission came via the only surviving member of a ship whose entire crew had fallen sick and died. Unaware of the virulent disease’s ability to spread to other human beings, the Haida decided to bring the ailing stranger to shore in order to care for him. The sailor died the following day. Shortly afterwards, the Haida men and women who had been in direct contact with him started to develop symptoms themselves, eventually succumbing to the disease. As Wilson herself noted, there was a sad irony in the fact that it was their compassion for the stranger in their midst that proved to have such destructive consequences for the Haida: “They did the decent thing. They helped the sick man. Yet they all got sick.”
"Warning the Hunters Away," 2006, wool appliqué, leather, wool Melton, buttons, shells, thread, paint
Once the Haida made the realization that a contagious disease was threatening their existence, they took active measures to try to prevent the deadly virus’s spread to the other villages on the Island. In this image, based on a recollection told to Wilson by her grandfather, a group of Haida are returning in their canoes after a week of deer hunting in the wilderness. A second group of Haida, stationed on the shore, are waving to the paddlers and shouting to them not to approach too close. They are warning the hunters that a sickness has overtaken their village and advising them that other neighbouring villages are also unsafe. According to Wilson, the paddlers continued journeying northwards, avoiding the villages along the way, until they reached Uttes, near present-day Masset, where they were told it was safe to come ashore. “The epidemic almost wiped out my people,” Wilson wrote.
"Dancing the Spirits Home," 2006, wool appliqué, leather, wool Melton, buttons, thread, paint
When Wilson was a young child growing up in Masset on northern Haida Gwaii, she recalled sometimes seeing a blue fog in the village on certain days. Her grandmother explained to her that the mist wasn’t simply fog, but that it was in fact the spirits of the Haida whose lives were taken in the smallpox epidemics of the 1800s. According to Wilson’s grandmother, these people had died before it was their designated time to leave Earth. (The Haida believe the Creator assigns everyone a time to depart.) As a result, their spirits continued to linger in the village, unsure where to go and confused about what to do. In order to help the spirits find their way to their final home in the sky, the children of the village would gather in the fog, dancing and singing while holding large cedar boughs.
"Distant Drums," 2006, wool appliqué, leather, wool Melton, buttons, thread, paint
When she was nine, Wilson and her cousins heard drumming and singing far off in the distance. Curious to know who was making the noise, the children ventured deep into the woods, following the rhythmic sound. “All we found was blue fog,” Wilson would recall. Wilson went home to tell her parents what they had seen and heard. It was explained that the invisible drummers were the spirits of the victims of smallpox. According the Wilson’s mother and father, these spirits were still awaiting their designated time to be called to the other world. While they waited, they passed the time by drumming and singing, just as they had done before the disease took them. Wilson always considered herself lucky to have heard and felt their presence in this way.
