Artist hopes to preserve Indigenous teachings with his 'Story Booth'

Lawyer turned artist Shain Níniw-ém Salepem Jackson, compares losing an Indigenous Elder to a library burning to the ground.

Jackson says he was becoming increasingly distressed as more Elders from shíshálh Nation were passing on taking with them invaluable stories and knowledge rarely recorded, largely due to their oral traditions.

“It was upsetting because a few of our Elders would make their journey and essentially take all these amazing teachings with them. I know it's extremely upsetting in our community, because our life expectancy is actually very, very low,” said Jackson. “So, when an Elder actually gets to be an Elder, it's quite a triumph and they have all these just amazing teachings.”

So about six years ago, Jackson decided to do something about it and he created the first version of what he called the “Story Booth.” Jackson explained the design of the small, red-cedar structure was partially inspired by the vintage photo booths once commonly found in department stores across Canada.

“You know, the ones you make kind of funny faces with your friends. Everybody has this really amazing nostalgia for those,” said Jackson. “When you sit in the booth, it’s like this cool little cubby and I don’t think I’ve had any Elders in the story booth where it wasn't considered kind of a really cozy, comfy environment.”

Jackson began his quest with his Auntie Mabel, and he says the two spoke for hours, tucked away in the little wooden booth. An iPad recorded video of their conversations and, combined with the intimacy of the booth, his aunt felt comfortable enough to share her stories. Jackson noted most Elders aren’t comfortable sitting in front of a camera and being interviewed in a formal way.

“Auntie Mabel, she made her journey a few years ago, we just talked for hours and she talked about everything. She talked about our family and our lineage. Talked about different types of resource harvesting we used to do with berry picking and clams and, you know, it’s quite a Garden of Eden within our territory if you know where to look for food,” said Jackson. “She talked about everything from the residential schools, to what she thinks about the systems that we're in right now. She spoke our language and I actually had never even heard her speak our language.”

"Story Booth 1.0," as he’s now dubbed that original structure still sits at Spirit Works Ltd., a North Vancouver-based company he founded in 2007. Spirit Works is an Indigenous-owned, operated and staffed company with a focus on the creation and distribution of traditional cultural pieces such as bentwood boxes and wooden jewellery, but also includes First Nations-themed functional items, such as doors, board room tables, retail units, public art and more.

Jackson’s second-generation Story Booth was recently completed and moved into tems swiya Museum, located in shíshálh/Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast Highway, where the multi-media artist hopes to have many more long conversations with Elders from shíshálh Nation.

While named after a modern-day invention, Jackson styled both Story Booths on a First Nations longhouse, one of the many which have lined the West Coast for millennium. After interviewing several visiting shíshálh Nation Elders at his North Vancouver studio, Jackson recently moved this new Story Booth to the museum. In anticipation of many more long conversations, Jackson made a few adjustments to the new booth to make it more comfortable. He also built it slightly shorter, but also wider to give it more of a resemblance to a longhouse.

Jackson hopes some of the Elders he meets with will feel comfortable enough to speak in their own language. He adds, there is a whole multitude of reasons many Elders don’t speak their language.

“First and foremost, it was largely lost. Several generations went through the residential schools and were prevented. It's very well known in Canada now, because of all the reconciliation work, that our people were beaten for speaking our language and chastised for speaking our language. So, there was that," said Jackson. "And then on top of that, within society it certainly wasn't advantageous to be speaking your language, just because of the general racism in society. On top of that, there’s the insecurity about trying to speak your language and not doing it right.”

Jackson says it’s hard to maintain a language when it's not constantly used, reinforced and inculcated. “We have some amazing speakers, but how many fluent speakers do we have? Hardly any.”

That's something Jackson hopes to help remedy through his Story Booth, which will be on display at tems swiya Museum when it reopens April 15 following its lengthy renovation.