Grace Ulu: Co-Creation with Family and Nature at Heart
By: Allan Chan
Photo credit: Gracielene Ulu
Originally published at The Colloquium on July 12, 2022
Co-creation is defined as the development of new ideas as a result of collaboration between creators. It is characterized by the sharing of ideas between parties, as opposed to working individually. When I had first heard of the term “co-creation”, a blurry idea had formed in my head, but it was not until I had met with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) artist Grace Ulu that I would gain a deeper understanding of what co-creation was. I had previously been acquainted with Grace’s work with the David Suzuki Foundation in devising the native pollinator map of Vancouver. With this opportunity to meet her presented to me, I jumped on the chance to get to better know Grace and talk to her about her art and personal journey.
This story is entitled “co-creation” because Grace was an integral part of our team as we worked together on the Indigenous Story Circle project. Our project could not have been done without her participation alongside Gail Sparrow, former chief of the Musqueam Nation. Not only that, but Grace’s artistic journey and her process features the collaboration of her family and those around her every step of the way.
One of the first things I noticed about Grace was her smile. It was a warm smile. She was so full of life and kindness, and she knew how to bring a smile to someone’s face. During our interview, she would laugh and ensure each of us emerged feeling the same way she felt. Grace was such a busy person, balancing both motherhood, work obligations, and our project.
The name Grace is short for Gracielene, a combination of her grandmother and grandaunt’s names, Grace and Arlene. Gracielene was also the name of her great-grandfather’s fishing boat. Grace was born to a Fijian father and an Indigenous mother. Her mother would lose her Indigenous status because of her marriage to a non-Indigenous man, as a result of the Indian Act’s provisions.
Grace’s maternal grandfather was from the Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation, and she was enrolled in the Nanaimo Indian Band for most of her early life. Grace became a registered member of the Musqueam Indian Band, her grandmother’s band, when she turned nineteen. Grace lived on and off the Musqueam reserve here in Vancouver, until her grandmother found a permanent home on the Musqueam reserve when Grace was in the third grade, giving her the chance to live more permanently on the reserve. Grace talked about how she wanted to give her own children the opportunity to live on the reserve as she had been given.
Grace was raised in a very lively home, sharing her home with several generations of her family. Grace loved art since she was a child, her mother recognized this passion and would sign her up for several art activities when she was younger. Grace’s late grandmother, Musqueam elder Arlene Point, had a deep and profound love for nature. Grace recalled to us how Arlene would share with her the beautiful things from nature, the “things she loved; the frogs, hummingbirds, and eagles and how she would draw them”. Grace looked to her family when she created artwork. Family was an important pillar in Grace’s life. They ensured that she was on the right track and she leaned on them in times of uncertainty. She made sure to communicate with them to ensure that she was representing her roots in a thoughtful way.
Grace was an athletic child but eventually found a passion for makeup, and went on to get a degree from the Vancouver Community College as a beautician. Grace recalled to us her passion for Halloween, and how she and her aunt would always go all out during the celebration. She recalled a time when she employed her makeup skills to transform her aunt to such a degree that she was unrecognizable, to the extent that her own peers could not recognize her.
“Knowing that [she] is doing something for [her] community is very important to [Grace]”, taking the idea of community contribution and carrying those values onto the next generation is personally important to Grace. During the time in her life as a beautician, Grace had worked at a spa. While working at the spa, she had begun studying at Langara College for a degree in bookkeeping. Members of the Musqueam Capital Corporation found potential in Grace’s bookkeeping work and she eventually applied to the accounting department before transitioning into marketing, both of which she had excelled at. Grace currently works as the Musqueam Capital Corporation’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator, on top of her work in the art world.
It was Grace’s cousin who pushed her to take the plunge and foray into sharing her art with a greater audience. Describing the sensation as nerve-wracking, Grace’s first submission to a public contest was a portrait of her aunt that she submitted for a contest. Grace would go on to submit further pieces of work through the Musqueam’s artist call system, whereby the band would recruit local talent by issuing public calls for submissions. Grace went on to spread her wings and venture forth into other public art endeavors, serving on art panels where she would nominate the art of other emerging artists for selection in the public square. Learning about other emerging artists and having the opportunity to elevate their voices helped her gain new perspectives on her own community and she found joy in helping uplift others’ artwork.
Grace spoke to us about how her favourite work was a submission that she had done for a youth contest for Historica Canada titled Indigenous Arts and Stories, one of the first works that she had submitted publicly. It would go on to win the honourable mention award for the contest. Grace had drawn a portrait of her aunt.The process that she took to create the artwork was a very sensitive journey. Her aunt was a residential school survivor, and Grace had a specific vision to capture her likeness for the contest. Her aunt agreed to be the subject for Grace’s portrait on the condition that she did not speak of her experience. After the contest, Grace lost touch with the artwork, as the organization had planned to return it to Grace but lost it in the mail, and it was then returned back to Historica Canada’s office based in Toronto. The artwork was later exhibited for a year in an Indigenous-owned law office in Toronto before being sold to one of the lawyers at that firm.
When Grace engaged in the process of creation, she also looked to the natural world as her grandmother had before her. Grace took from the ruddy reds of təməɬ—ochre clay at the edge of the river—and the deep purplish blues of the camas lily that has provided sustenance for the Musqueam people. To Grace and many other Indigenous people, “art is culture and life, and the teachings [one] grew up with”. “Continuing teachings and the stories of our grandparents” was what Indigenous culture was to Grace.
Grace’s unique butterflyway map that she had created for the David Suzuki Foundation came to her after finding out about the artist call posted by the Musqueam Band office. The unique colour approach originated from Grace and her two kids seeing a Netflix documentary and learning how butterflies see the world in ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light bathed the entire world in a deep purplish-blue hue, a view unique to the butterflies that would use this pathway to see. Her son would remark how the map she wound up making looked like that of a video game with its bright hues. From there, Grace took the beautiful blues of the camas lily and incorporated them into the colours of the map itself.
It was former Musqueam chief Gail Sparrow who had recommended Grace to join us on our artistic journey for the Indigenous Story Circle. Gail recommended her to VACS for her talent in making a piece for the Kerrisdale Community Centre. Grace found herself learning more and more in finding new experiences during her time in collaboration by putting herself out there and spreading her wings. She admitted to me that she felt quite nervous in participating in the Story Circle, but she always found curiosity and an eagerness to help individuals learn what they wanted to learn about Musqueam culture and history. Grace had liked the collage proposal that we had devised, and we suggested that we could centre her art as the pillar from which the collage could emerge. The concept evoked images of the quilt, how fractured pieces came together and formed a bigger, more cohesive picture. The bigger picture here centered Grace’s original illustration, a painting of a butterfly, therefore in its own way centering Indigenous artwork at the piece’s core. It was on the participants to then help empower and build the piece into a fully realized masterpiece.
Before we parted ways, Grace shared with us some advice she had accrued over the years. She spoke of not shying away from showing your art to the world, recalling how she had only started participating in contests after her cousin, who was like a sister to her, pushed her to apply. Grace spoke of the importance of building confidence and pride in who you are while finding respect for your core beliefs. She also spoke of how important it was to ask questions when you felt unsure, and the importance of feedback and seeking out advice as an artist. Grace would seek advice from her family, and their advice would help her navigate life in times of uncertainty.
Co-creation found itself reflected in every facet of Grace’s creative journey. Whether it was her grandmother and cousin’s encouragement that had inspired her to come out of her shell and submit her artwork for a contest, or how she involved her extended family, seeking their advice in the process of creation. The result of this creative process and collaborative empowerment is shown in the beautiful results. Grace’s creative process imbues itself with strength in the voices and participation of those around her, and she actively uses their feedback and insights to empower the meaningful and beautiful cultural knowledge that her artwork embodies.
