The House of Ghosts
Marianne Nicholson
2008
Vancouver, British Columbia
Public installation
https://www.mariannenicolson.com/
The House of Ghosts is a large-scale light installation by Marianne Nicolson in which traditional Kwakwaka’wakw ceremonial symbols and images were projected onto the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2008. The Vancouver Art Gallery was formerly a Provincial courthouse, in which the Canadian and BC provincial governments made efforts to suppress and eradicate Indigenous peoples. The juxtaposition of imposing the Kwakwaka’wakw bighouse imagery on the pillars and lintel of the building, Nicolson symbolizes the survival and resilience of Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations cultures and communities.