Alternately known as: Kispiox Totems, this is one of Emily Carr’s early totem subjects, created as part of her quest to document First Nations poles “for history”. The village of Kispiox is located at the confluence of the Kispiox and Skeena Rivers in Gitzsan territory.

Emily Carr (1871-1945) is a renowned Canadian artist and writer. Though she lived and died in Victoria, British Columbia, Carr studied in England and France and travelled extensively throughout coastal BC and Alaska, inspired by First Nations people and their art. Her later works take inspiration from the coastal forests, sea and sky scapes.

A plaque on this painting states: “Presented to the Government of British Columbia, 1933, by Edythe Hembroff and Fred Band as representatives of a group of the artist’s friends.” Hembroff solicited funds from groups and individuals so that this work could be given to the people of BC. Many years later she explained that Carr was elated to receive the $166.00 realized from this sale as it would pay for her ticket to Chicago to view art at the Century of Progress Exhibition.