Orange Sweatshirt - "It's Woven Into Our Way of Life"
I-Hos Gallery EXCLUSIVE!!
Wear this button blanket design on your back - on Orange Shirt Day and all year round! Local K'omoks artist Jeanette Laberge teamed up with the Wachiay Studio to make these meaningful orange sweatshirts. Read her artist statement below <3
- Designed by a K’omoks artist
- Hand-printed in the Comox Valley at the Wachiay Friendship Centre’s print studio
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Blank garments are ethically sourced:
- Socially responsible: manufactured in compliance with the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production principles (WRAP certified)
- Environmentally responsible: made with OEKO-TEX certified low-impact dyes
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It’s Woven Into Our Way of Life
This design takes the style of a button blanket, a post-colonial piece of regalia woven in history and symbolism. Intricately designed blankets stitched together with buttons and adorned with materials such as mother of pearl or copper. These expertly placed materials communicate information - such as family identification - across the dance floor. The borders mirror the cedar plank walls and smoke hole of the gukwdzi (or big house) used for ceremonial gatherings. Centered within the blanket border is a crest that is associated with family, however, this is not always the case today.
With open hands, I welcome you into the symbolic space of ceremony with open heart and open mind to plant the seeds of understanding in our collective and individual experiences to keep moving us forward. These hands hold the complex stories of broken promises, abuse, manipulation, separation, law breaking, country fighting, and love. Our dwellings have changed and some of our sacred spaces too. So, sit with us where we are in our anger, sadness, grief, and all that hurt our family, hurt us. Stand with us in our adaptability, our strength, our determination to live and create safe spaces for our loved ones to grow with the knowledge held by our ancestors. Stand with us when we say we have given up enough.
Jeanette Laberge, 2025
Kwakwaka’wakw, Haida, Carrier and French
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Proceeds go to I-Hos Gallery's Artist Bursary which funds local artists’ professional development; we sponsor new skills or tools that will strengthen their practice.
Click here for more info:
I-Hos Gallery Bursary
