Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is one of Canada’s most outspoken and influential contemporary artists. Of Cowichan (Hul’q’umi’num Coast Salish) and Okanagan (Syilx) descent, he lives and works on unceded Coast Salish territories in Vancouver, British Columbia. Yuxweluptun is Salish for “man of many masks,” a name given to the artist during his initiation into the Sxwaixwe Society at the age of fourteen. Lets’lo:tseltun was given to Lawrence by Sto:lo artist Laura Wee Lay Laq in 2018 and means “man of many colours.” His paintings and sculptures combine Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast design, and Western landscape painting. Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun’s paintings can be brutal critiques of issues affecting Canada’s First Nations. He broaches topics such as land title, residential schools, and the destruction of the environment.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun is an advocate for contemporary indigenous issues in Canada. This is evidenced by his exhibition history and reception of awards such as the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts (VIVA) award in 1998 and in 2019, Emily Carr University of Art + Design awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Fine Art.
Yuxweluptun has received numerous grants and awards, including the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts Award (1998), and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art Fellowship (2013). His work has been the subject of over 25 solo exhibitions. Upcoming international exhibitions include the Hessel Museum (2023, New York). Yuxweluptun has participated in more than 24 pivotal group exhibitions at venues such as the Eiteljorg Museum (2022, Indianapolis, Indiana), the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2023), Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) Indigenous Art Collection (2021-2023, Sussex Courtyards in Ottawa), McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2021, Ontario), Montreal Museum of Fine Art (2020, 2021, Montreal), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2018-2020, Bentonville, Arkansas), SITE Santa Fe (2018, New Mexico), the Art Gallery of Ontario (2017, Toronto), the Vancouver Art Gallery (1997, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2020), the National Gallery of Canada (2013, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario) and the Banff Centre for the Arts (2003, Alberta). In 2016, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia mounted a major 30-year survey of his work, titled Unceded Territories.

Along The Coastal Shores of the Salish Seas Traditional Native Territories,
2023,
73 x 97",
Acrylic on canvas

Neo Ovoids, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72”

Spirit Walker, 2023, Acrylic on cedar, 24 x 13 x 13”

Our Ancestral Spirits Walk With Us,
2022,
72 x 54”,
Acrylic on canvas

Harvest Moon,
2022,
54 x 36”,
Acrylic on canvas

Untitled ( landscape),
2020,
35.35 x 26",
acrylic on canvas

The Other side of the Inlet ,
2021,
72 x 54”,
acrylic on canvas

Untitled (Landscape),
2020,
84 x 96",
Acrylic on canvas

Northwest Coast Climate Change,
2019,
76 x 96",
Acrylic on Canvas

Indian World My Home and Native Land,
2012,
120 x 84",
Acrylic on canvas

Natives playing on the Land ,
2015,
108 x 72",
acrylic on canvas

The One Percent,
2015,
84 x 60",
acrylic on canvas

Christy Clark and the Kinder Morgan Go-Go Girls,
2015,
acrylic on canvas, Photo credit: Maegan Hill-Carroll, Vancouver Art Gallery,

Fucking Creeps They’re Environmental Terrorists,
2013,
84 x 72”,
Acrylic on canvas

The Direction of Land Claim Negotiations,
2013,
72 x 68”,
Acrylic on Canvas

New Chiefs on the Land,
2016,
66 x 84",
Acrylic on canvas

Installation view, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Neo-Totems ,
2016,

Untitled,
16 x 11 x 10",
cedar, acrylic

Untitled ,
2016,
15 x 9 x 10",
cedar, acrylic

Portrait of a Residential School Child ,
2005,
63.3 x 52.8",
Acrylic on canvas

The Impending Nisga’a’ Deal. Last Stand. Chump Change, 1996, Acrylic on canvas 80 x 96". Collection Vancouver Art Gallery. Photo credit: Trevor Mills,