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City’s Indigenous artist in residence selected

Coast Salish artist Dylan Thomas (Qwul’thilum) has been chose for a two-year term as Victoria’s Indigenous artist in residence. During his term, he will create artistic works and also engage the community in dialogue, workshops and events.

Coast Salish artist Dylan Thomas (Qwul’thilum) has been chose for a two-year term as Victoria’s Indigenous artist in residence.

During his term, he will create artistic works and also engage the community in dialogue, workshops and events.

“I hope to use my experience as a Salish artist, my experience as an Indigenous person and my experience as a lifelong resident of Victoria to create work that meaningfully honours the local Indigenous people — past, present and future,” Thomas said in a statement.

Thomas is a member of the Lyackson First Nation and also has heritage from the Songhees, Squamish and Snuneymuxw nations. His experience includes furniture design, sandblasting, wood carving, printmaking and jewelry, and he recently started stone carving.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the Indigenous-artist-in-residence program is part of the city’s “reconciliation and decolonization” work, bringing “Indigenous ways of thinking and knowing into an established institution like the city.”

A public meet-and-greet session for Thomas will be held Jan. 22 from 5-7 p.m. at Victoria City Hall.