A powerful painting by renowned Indigenous artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish name, Lets’lo:tseltun). Yuxweluptun is a graduate of the Emily Carr School of Art and Design. His large-scale paintings often employ Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast formal design elements, and the Western landscape tradition. Informed by his personal experiences, Yuxweluptun’s work aims to document and promote change in contemporary Indigenous history as well as explore political, environmental, and cultural issues.

His recent painting, entitled “Indian Residential School, Leaving the Shallow Graves and Going Home,” was commissioned by Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel to mark Canada’s inaugural Truth & Reconciliation Day. It has just sold at auction for $157,250. All proceeds (including auction fees) will be donated to the Orange Shirt Society and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. Check out Yuxweluptun’s painting and a short video about the piece below!