Dr. Snxakila Clyde Tallio is helping open a window to something complex and beautiful and highlighting Nuxalk Nation ceremonial treasures in a new way.

The first-ever exhibition of Nuxalk Nation artifacts and artworks at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in Vancouver, is opening this week and one of the aims is to help change the narrative of museums as "colonial trophy cases" explained Tallio of the collaborative project.

Instead, the exhibition highlights the strength, healing and unique worldview of Nuxalk people.

The exhibit Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun, was co-curated by Dr. Snxakila Clyde Tallio, director of culture and language for Nuxalk Nation and Dr. Jennifer Kramer, curator of Pacific Northwest collection at MOA. The exhibition will be on display Feb. 21, 2025 to Jan. 5, 2026.

While Tallio said museums are often viewed in a negative light in terms of the "conquest" of Indigenous peoples, he said his research has indicated there is another story to be told.

"It was a story of resilience," said Tallio, describing how knowledge-keepers and treasure-holders from Indigenous communities looked at museums and anthropologists and others as a way to safeguard their cultural items for future generations through a time of oppression.

"They understood that these were critical to who we are as a people and our identity," he said. "So they found ways to preserve the knowledge through working with academics, through putting their treasures in museums."

While he said it would have been difficult for these leaders to make this decision to send these treasures away, they recognized the value in preserving the culture of their people. Through this preservation, Tallio said they now know what their ancient artworks and beings depicted in their oral traditions look like by matching it all to the treasures.

"We have the means again to practice this way of life," said Tallio, noting it will help lead the Nuxalk into their fourth era. "It's trying to inspire the next generation."

Tallio, a fluent speaker of the Nuxalk language, was born and raised in Bella Coola and began working with the elders of the community as a teenager in order to become a ceremonial potlatch speaker.

Through his work with the elders and the nation, he met Kramer 15 years ago. The pair began working together locating Nuxalk items in museums around the world, in order to document the artifacts and bring the knowledge back to the community.

Tallio weaves an awe-inspiring story of the exhibition, how it aims to visually depict the Nuxalk story across time, of how the treasures both preserve and revitalize the Nuxalk culture, helping to inspire current and future generations, as new creators have made replicas of past treasures, bringing ancient ceremonies and traditions back to the community. All of the treasures, whether newly created or ancient, connect the Nuxalk to a creation story which interweaves the natural world and the ceremonial and mythological world.

The name of the exhibit highlights this return to culture, invoking stories told throughout the generations of Nuxalk people of both the connection between past generations and those generations of Nuxalk yet to come, as well as the reciprocal relationships with the land and traditions.

Nuxal Strong is partly a reference to a rallying cry given by chiefs during a period of clearcut logging in the Bella Coola valley in the 1980s, standing up for their rights and the land, as well as another elder who invoked the power of the Nuxalk culture, said Tallio. This acknowledges the work of previous generations to clear the path for the current generation.

Tallio said "dancing down the eyelash of the sun" helps reference the importance of the treasures in connecting current Nuxalk people to their traditions and culture. 

He uses Nuxalk and English to tell the traditional story, depicting the intimately interwoven nature of the culture, the treasures, the ceremonies, the people and the ecosystem where Nuxalk have lived for thousands of years.

The story is a beautiful illustration of how inseparable the Nuxalk are from both the cultural treasures themselves, the ceremonies in which the treasures are used, their history and their connection to the land and environment. It offers a window into a completely different way of looking at the place of humans in the world.

The UBC Museum of Anthropology is located at 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, B.C.