St’et’il te Temexw Xwela ye Sqweltel
The Land is Lonesome for the Language
A collaboration of visual arts and music performance in support of language revitalization and truth & reconciliation
Speplól Tanya Zilinski creates loom beaded tapestries that portray Sxwoxwiyam (stories from the ancient People)
and cultural and spiritual teachings.
Éy Stélmexw St’elt’ílém/Good Medicine Songs creates bilingual songs in English and Halq’eméylem, the upriver dialect of the Stó:lō First Nations in the Fraser Valley, B.C.
Halq’eméylem Phonemic Chart
"This piece came to me in a vision. It is a tribute to all our Elders in the community who worked hard to keep the Halq’eméylem language alive. Fluent Elders started working in the early 1970’s with linguists, documenting thousands of words, creating the Halq’eméylem alphabet and Phenomic chart.
There are a total of 163,134 beads. Beaded with 10/0 traditional Czech seed beads on my traditional loom. Sewn onto a layer of red wool melton, then sewn into a layer of black wool melton and finished off around the border with mother of pearl buttons and 3mm copper cube beads. All letters are graphed by hand on paper. I spent 7 months and 700 hours working on this piece."
Professionally framed. Measurements: 4’11” x 3’
Speplól Tanya Zilinski
Project video
The Land is Lonesome for the Language
This song was inspired by a saying of Dr. Siyamiyateliyot Elizabeth Phillips, our beloved Elder who is the Spiritual and Language Guide for Good Medicine Songs:
"The land is lonesome for the language. Back before contact, all the land knew was Halq'emeylem. That is the language that the land was used to hearing. It helps the land for us to speak Halq'emeylem. That's why the Creator gave us the language, so we could communicate with the land in our own way."
"When we speak Halq'emeylem our ancestors can understand us better. We're more able to hear the messages in the wind, the water, in nature. We're more connected to the land, and the land feels less lonely. We are inspired to restore the land and waters."