Dorothy Grant | Raven Comes Full Circle
Haida Gwaii Museum at Ḵay Llnagaay, Skidegate, BC - To Dec 21
It was more than 40 years ago that Haida artist Skil Da ’Yuuwans Dorothy Grant had a series of conversations that set her on the path to becoming a trailblazing Indigenous fashion designer.
“At the time, the master artists would gather together and the conversation was around ‘What will we do to add more mediums to Haida art? What are we going to do to push the boundaries of where the art form is at now?’ ” recalls Grant, who was born in Hydaburg, Alaska, and belongs to the Yahgw Janáas clan of the Haida Nation, in an interview released by the museum. “It was [Haida master carver] Bill Reid who said, ‘One of us has to do fashion with our art—or somebody in Paris, a designer, will take it and do a bad job.’ ”
Sewing since the age of 13, Grant knew this was her calling and enrolled in the Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design. Her first label, Feastwear, debuted in 1989 with a Vancouver fashion show that featured 55 pieces with modern silhouettes, hand-appliquéd with Northwest Coast formline elements.
“The fashion world really didn’t know what to do with me when I broke out with this. Was I art, was I ceremony, was I fashion? They didn’t know,” says Grant. “I really had to make my own way, establishing my own rules and my own place in the industry.”
Grant’s designs have since graced international runways, been worn by celebrities, been utilized in traditional ceremonies, and been featured in exhibitions worldwide. In 2015, she received the Order of Canada, and in 2019, Simon Fraser University bestowed Grant with an honorary doctorate.
The retrospective Raven Comes Full Circle celebrates Grant’s designs that span four decades and utilize a range of materials, from leather to wool and silk. Early works include Grant’s traditional button robes and spruce weavings; show highlights include mid-career selections from the Dorothy Grant Gold Label, haute couture gala gowns and a wedding dress created in honour of Grant’s mother. Made of white deer hide, the dress features hand-cut fringes, mother-of-pearl beads and a silkscreened Haida design of Raven, the Transformer.
“It’s really important as Indigenous people that we are going to be authors of our own story, and this is my story about creating something that’s going to add to Haida tradition for years to come,” says Grant.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Figure.1 Publishing and the Haida Gwaii Museum are publishing the book Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread.
