THIS BOX IS NOW SOLD. FINAL BID $1,700.00

4 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Red and yellow cedar, acrylic paint.

This box is based on the writings of Syilx knowledge keeper, Jeannette Armstrong, and more specifically the article “Sharing one skin”. The Four Capacities of Self are in reference to the physical, emotional, thinking/intellectual and spiritual aspects of the self. I have represented these aspects on the sides of the box as braids.

Separate and isolated one strand contains a limited potential. However, when bound together with many strands a strong bond is formed as one. The act of keeping these aspects in balance as a unified whole in the present moment honours the ancestral teachings of the past which informs future generations.

In my interpretation, I’ve represented the physical aspect in reference to colours that arise from the landscape. From the land in which all is given and from where all life arises from. In relation to the body, sound physical health is the foundation for all the other aspects. Water is the element I’ve chosen to represent the emotional body. Water is the nourishing and regenerative life force that binds and connects life forms. Water can be calm like a still lake and as powerful an ocean swell. For the mind I’ve referenced the braid as fire. Fire can illuminate and give warmth however a fire out of control has the power to destroy. Paraphrasing from Jeannette’s article the word for thinking/logic closely translates to “the spark that ignites.” For the spiritual self I’ve represented the infinite space of the stars above. Again from Armstrong’s article she wrote “ we translate the word for our spirit self as without substance while moving continuously outward.”