Chief Billy Assu’s Chilkat Robe has arrived back in Cape Mudge after a long journey across the country.
This remarkable piece, weaved by Mary Hunt, will be on display as part of a new exhibit, The Man Behind the Masks: The Life & Legacy of Chief Billy Assu.
On loan from the Canadian Museum of History, this magnificent robe will spend the next eleven months at Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre before heading north to Alert Bay.
The Centre is open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., including holidays. For more information email tours@nuyumbalees.com or call 250-285-3733.
Open since 1979, Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre was the first facility of its kind in Canada designed specifically to house a repatriated collection.
Through the dramatic artwork and masks, the potlatch story is shared with visitors. Most recently, seven pieces removed from the community in 1908 have returned home after a long journey which has seen them travel throughout the world.