My project for the graduation exhibition and B.A. thesis were a product of my personal studies on Northwest Coast native art. This style, widely known, has been evolving for thousands of years and remains as a definitive traditional style common in essence to indian groups on the Northwest coast of America, from Alaska to Washington.

I have been intrigued by this style since I lived in Vancouver B.C. as a child and adolescent and was eager to learn the basic rules and execution of this style of art. My goal was to learn the basic formal rules and traditions, the symbology and variations of style and from there try to take my own twist on it and make a special variation of mine. As it turned out, the last part is still a work in progress, as the study of the basic principles and learning the execution proved a larger task than I had thought, but I am still working on progressing the style.

The end product was called Nang Jáadaas, which means 'The Woman' in the Haida language, an idolization of the women in my life, as the indians idolize the animals in their spirituality and surroundings. The illustrations were executed according to the formal rules of the general Northwest Coast style, using approximately the traditional colors. The imagery is symbolic, with references to matriarchy, adventure, treachery and more personal things I will not go further into.

As said, I plan on progressing my own take on the Northwest Coast style as it remains intriguing in its beauty of form and profound symbolism, but seeing as this is a style that took hundreds or thousands of years to evolve, it will take some time.

The exhibition consisted of a triptych of 120 cm x 200 cm three colour vinyl on aluminum plates.
 All work © Sigurður Oddsson 2023