Lou-ann Neel likes parts of the British Columbia flag, but overall 鈥渢hought it was too plain.鈥� So the First Nations artist 鈥渄ecided to dress it up鈥� with Kwakwaka鈥檞akw elements for the province鈥檚 150th anniversary.
鈥淚 wanted to take the basic shapes that we have and use in almost all of our artwork, the ovoid and the split U,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat I had in mind was creating a co-opted layer that embeds all of our shapes from our art into the flag.鈥�
It sounds simple, but makes a dramatic difference. Neel鈥檚 design adds a fresh layer to the flag, while using the old flag as a base. It feels both new and historic, like it has always been there. And it鈥檚 uniquely British Columbian.
Neel did all this digitally 鈥� there is no physical flag. She doesn鈥檛 really expect it to be adopted as the new provincial flag 鈥� she just whipped it up for fun, and partly as an exercise in cultural appropriation. She unveiled it at the end of July on her Facebook and Twitter pages, where it has been well received.
鈥淔or me to kind of co-opt the flag of B.C., and make it my own 鈥� on the one hand, I was thinking as a First Nations person I鈥檓 here, and I want to see this flag to represent me, in the way I would do it,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut on the other hand, [I know] that doing so is a form of appropriation, and sort of pushing the envelope on that discussion. Surprisingly, I haven鈥檛 seen anybody come back and say: 鈥楬ey, you appropriated the B.C. flag.鈥� 鈥�
The current flag was brought in by Social Credit premier W.A.C. Bennett on June 22, 1960. Until then, B.C. didn鈥檛 have a flag.
The colourful design features the Union Jack, a gold crown, blue ocean waves, and a golden sunset. Initially, Bennett had proposed another design, but it was derided so much he switched to a design based on a B.C. coat of arms from 1906.
Neel started off her flag by placing split U鈥檚 in the red middle band around the crown in the Union Jack.
鈥淚 wanted the Union Jack symbolism to be taken over by those U-shapes, although they鈥檙e sideways,鈥� said Neel, who was born in Alert Bay and grew up in Victoria. 鈥淚t puts energy toward the crown, coming from the people. There鈥檚 seven generations on either side, so seven split U鈥檚 to represent that, seven forward and seven back,鈥� since B.C. joined Confederation on July 20, 1871.
The bottom of Neel鈥檚 flag is a stunner 鈥� she turns the sunset into 鈥渁n abstract of an eye.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the same kind of eye that you would see in an orca or a thunderbird [in First Nations artwork], it鈥檚 the same common shape,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 added into the rays circles and very abstract split U鈥檚. It鈥檚 very abstracted by its sending all of that energy out.鈥�
Neel is the granddaughter of the renowned First Nations artist Ellen Neel, who designed one of the totem poles in Stanley Park. Her great-uncle is another famous artist, Mungo Martin, as was her great-grandfather, Charlie James.
She is the acting head of Indigenous Collections and the Repatriation Department at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria.
