ḵaahláang an unsád, iitl' tláawhla ḵuyaadang

(to know what is inside, to love what we are made of)

cassette tape, deer leather, felt, antique buttons, abalone buttons, glass beads, copper beads, red cedar bark, yellow cedar bark, white water turquoise, lapis lazuli beads, jade beads, sinew, sterling silver beads, gold filled beads, bone beads, bone buttons, thread, red cedar shavings from two totem poles, copper buttons, blue bird feathers, trade beads, and the cord I wore my copper on for 4 years.

4”x 24”

Recordings are considered credible documentation of events. Whether a recording holds a song, a conversation, field recordings, ambient sounds of doings— that event is provable as being real because it exists in recorded history.   

ḵaahláang an unsád, iitl' tláawhla ḵuyaadang is a cassette tape rendered unplayable by artistic intervention. What the tape now holds is a recording of care and meaning through adornment that denies the object’s original function, calling into question signifiers of its purpose. It gives an artifact from time past a new life without completely erasing its nature or relying on technology that is no longer relevant. It is a palimpsest— the old information is scraped away and written over, except the method of writing is different— forcing a viewer to conceive of a recognizable object differently. It is no longer a recorded device to be played by a machine. It is a living spirit charged with ancestral energy, for consideration of the human eye and heart. The Haida word, ḵ’a táayaa is the single word that replaces all song titles on the paper label affixed to the tape. Each element attached to this being is infused with meaning, extrapolating the love shared from its maker to its recipient.