Ksan Performing Arts Group 24_33

Sadie Mowatt performs healing ceremony on Barlow Green. Among the Tsimshian, a shaman could be a man or a woman endowed with special powers. Shamans specialized in healing the sick, attracting fish or game, influencing the outcome of warfare, or predicting the weather. During the late sixties and early seventies the 'Ksan Performing Arts Group was created. These images are from the group's first national performance, Breath of Our Grandfathers, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The regalia and props used in the performance by the group were all designed and crafted by local Gitxsan artists.