Morgan Asoyuf
{{short description|Ts'msyen artist from British Columbia}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Morgan Asoyuf
| birth_name = Morgan Green
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1984}}
| birth_place = Prince Rupert, British Columbia
| occupation = Artist and craftsperson
}}
Morgan Asoyuf (born in 1984, née Green){{cite web |title=Morgan Asoyuf (Tsm’syen) |url=https://moa.ubc.ca/museum-shop/morgan-asoyuf-tsmsyen/ |website=Museum of Anthropology at UBC |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en-CA}} is a Ts'msyen artist from Prince Rupert, British Columbia. She is Eagle Clan{{cite web |title=Morgan Asoyuf |url=http://www.authenticindigenous.com/artists/morgan-asoyuf |website=Authentic Indigenous Arts Resurgence Campaign |publisher=Authentic Indigenous}} from the Lax Kw’alaams community. A multidisciplinary artist, Asoyuf works primarily in goldsmithing, jewelry, gem-setting, and engraving.{{cite news |last1=Grundy |first1=Mercedes |title=Morgan Asoyuf places her ornate crowns and jewelry on Indigenous activists to honour and protect them |url=https://www.cbc.ca/arts/morgan-asoyuf-places-her-ornate-crowns-and-jewelry-on-indigenous-activists-to-honour-and-protect-them-1.6071945 |access-date=July 2, 2021 |work=CBC Arts |publisher=CBC-Radio Canada |date=June 21, 2021}}
Artwork
Asoyuf has apprenticed with Haida mixed-media artist Richard Adkins and Tsimshian multidisciplinary artist Henry Green.{{cite web |title=Morgan Asoyuf |url=https://www.lattimergallery.com/collections/morgan-asoyuf |website=Lattimer Gallery |access-date=July 2, 2021}} She also attended the Vancouver Metal Art School, where she studied under German metalworker Gerold Mueller.{{cite web |title=Tsm'syen – Morgan Asoyuf |url=http://www.morganasoyuf.com/tsmsyen.html |website=Morgan Asoyuf |publisher=Morgan Asoyuf Fine Arts |access-date=July 2, 2021}}
In 2019, Asoyuf exhibited the photography series Royal Portrait, a series contemplating Indigenous northwest coast ideals and featuring "frontline activists working on issues like climate justice, missing and murdered Indigenous women, and protesting the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline."{{cite news |last1=Nair |first1=Roshini |title=Ts'msyen artist honours matriarchs and activists with new exhibition |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/morgan-asoyuf-artist-bill-reid-gallery-1.5305419 |access-date=July 2, 2021 |agency=CBC News |publisher=CBC-Radio Canada |date=October 12, 2019}} The portraits depicted community leaders and activists wearing Asoyuf's fine jewelry, predominantly headdresses, including frontlets, aigrettes, and crowns, made of mixed materials. The exhibit was shown at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver from October 2019 until January 2020.{{cite web |title=Royal Portrait |url=https://www.billreidgallery.ca/blogs/exhibitions-page/royal-portrait |website=Bill Reid Gallery |publisher=Bill Reid Foundation |access-date=July 2, 2021}}
Asoyuf's work has also been showcased during Vancouver Fashion Week in 2019.{{cite news |last1=Moukanda |first1=Noémie |title=La mode autochtone commémore les femmes disparues et assassinées |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1397177/vifw-mode-autochtone-joleen-mitton-design-enffada |access-date=July 2, 2021 |agency=Radio-Canada ICI |publisher=CBC-Radio Canada |date=November 20, 2019}}
Published books
Black and White: Visual Stimulation For Babies (2017) is a board book of high-contrast images "designed to stimulate brain growth and visual development in young babies" using traditional Pacific Northwest Coast imagery.{{cite web |title=Black and White: Visual Stimulation For Babies (BB) |url=https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=7040&f= |website=Strong Nations |publisher=Black and White: Visual Stimulation For Babies (BB) |access-date=July 2, 2021}}
Learning My Rights with Mousewoman{{cite journal |last1=Jenkinson |first1=Dave |title=Learning My Rights with Mousewoman |journal=Canadian Review of Materials |date=June 18, 2021 |volume=XXVII |issue=40 |url=https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/2377}} (2021) is a board book geared to preschool-aged children that uses the legendary figure of "Mousewoman" (a well-known personage in the mythology of Haida and Tsimshian peoples){{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Gwyneth |title=Mouse Woman and Mrs. Harris |journal=Canadian Children's Literature |date=1983 |issue=31–32 |pages=53–62 |url=https://ccl-lcj.ca/index.php/ccl-lcj/article/view/1704 |access-date=July 2, 2021}} to introduce children to the concept of inherent rights.
Activism and advocacy
Asoyuf created a T-shirt design for Orange Shirt Day, which was featured on the website Vancouver Is Awesome. Orange Shirt Day, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, commemorates victims and survivors of the Canadian residential school system. In 2021, the unmarked graves of several hundred children were discovered on the former grounds of defunct residential schools in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Asoyuf's design, featuring the words Every Child Matters, "shows 'two eagles holding around like a heart; this depicts protecting with love.'"{{cite news |last1=Kronbauer |first1=Bob |title=Tsm'syen artist Morgan Asoyuf discusses her Every Child Matters design |url=https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/vancouver-news/tsmsyen-artist-morgan-asoyuf-discusses-her-every-child-matters-design-3853615 |access-date=July 2, 2021 |agency=Vancouver Is Awesome |publisher=Glacier Media Digital |date=June 8, 2021}} Net proceeds from sales of the shirt benefitted the Orange Shirt Society and the BC Aboriginal Child Care Association.{{cite news |last1=Kronbauer |first1=Bob |title=Here's where the proceeds of this Every Child Matters t-shirt are going |url=https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/vancouver-news/every-child-matters-tshirt-canada-2021-proceeds-3848865 |access-date=July 2, 2021 |agency=Vancouver Is Awesome |publisher=Glacier Media Digital |date=June 5, 2021}}
References
External links
- [http://www.morganasoyuf.com/ Morgan Asoyuf's website]
- {{Instagram | id= morganasoyuf | name= Morgan Asoyuf }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asoyuf, Morgan}}
Category:Artists from British Columbia
Category:Tsimshian woodcarvers
Category:First Nations jewellers
Category:First Nations sculptors
Category:People from Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Category:21st-century Canadian women artists