Joyce Willie: Kwakiutl Dance Aprons, c. 1960

Joyce Willie

Joyce Willie

Joyce Willie

Joyce Willie

Joyce Willie

Kwakiutl, self-name Kwakwaka’wakw, North American Natives who traditionally lived in what is now British Columbia, Canada, along the shores of the waterways between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Their name for themselves means “those who speak Kwakwala.” Although the name Kwakiutl is often applied to all the peoples of that group, it is the name of only one band of Kwakwaka’wakw. They speak a Wakashan language that includesthree major dialects: Haisla, spoken on the Gardner Canal and Douglas Channel; Heiltsuq, spoken from Gardner Canal to Rivers Inlet; and Southern Kwakiutl, spoken from Rivers Inlet to Cape Mudge on the mainland and on the Northern end of Vancouver Island. The Kwakiutl are culturally and linguistically related to the Nuu-chah-nulth. In 2014 the 15 nations and bands that compose the Kwakwaka’wakw numbered about 7,700.