Sonny Assu Art
Canadian, b. 1975
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn’t until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu’s artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver’s art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back “home” in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art in 2011 and was thrice long-listed for the Sobey Art Award. He received his MFA from Concordia University in 2017 and was one of the Laureates for the 2017 REVEAL – Indigenous Art Awards.
His work has been accepted into the National Gallery of Canada, Seattle Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Burke Museum at the University of Washington, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Hydro Quebec, Lotto Quebec and in various other public and private collections across Canada, the United States and the UK.(Biography provided by Art Mûr)
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Artist: Sonny Assu
It was, like, a super long time ago that ppl were here, right?
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix cu...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Digital
There is Hope, If We Rise (Learn)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Challenge Stereotypes)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Confront)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Lead)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Never Idle)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Teach)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
Longing #6
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comical that my nation leased a plot of land, on un-ceded territory, to a company that exploits our resources to assemble log homes to be shipped off to the wealthy around the world.
While exploring the piles of discarded wood, I discovered a unique by-product of this industry: off-cuts that looked remarkably like pre-fabricated Northwest Coast masks. Left to be reclaimed by the earth or chipped up into cat litter...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Yeah... shit's about to go sideways. I'll take you to Amerind. You'll like it...
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix cu...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Digital
Landline #6
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #7
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
There is Hope, If We Rise (Idle No More)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Idle Know More)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Decolonize)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
There is Hope, If We Rise (Resist)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
Landline #10
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
There is Hope, If We Rise (Rise)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
Landline #9
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #12
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
There is Hope, If We Rise (Round Dance)
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.
Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada.
Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.).
Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Screen
Landline #5
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #2
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #1
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #5
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Ink
Beware of the intentions of well meaning Aliens
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix culture—as digital interventions onto works that contain the colonial gaze.
These interventions participate in the growing discourse of decolonization, acting as “tags” to challenging the colonial fantasy of terra nullius and confronting the dominant colonial culture’s continued portrayal of Indigenous peoples as a vanishing race...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Digital
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #2
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Paper, Acrylic, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #3
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Paper, Acrylic, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #4
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #6
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Ink
Cutting Edge
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Ink
We shall reassert our inherent rights
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix culture—as digital interventions onto works that contain the colonial gaze.
These interventions participate in the growing discourse of decolonization, acting as “tags” to challenging the colonial fantasy of terra nullius and confronting the dominant colonial culture’s continued portrayal of Indigenous peoples as a vanishing race...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Digital
Longing #1
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #3
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #26
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #25
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #21
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #20
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #19
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comical that my nation leased a plot of land, on un-ceded territory, to a company that exploits our resources to assemble log homes to be shipped off to the wealthy around the world.
While exploring the piles of discarded wood, I discovered a unique by-product of this industry: off-cuts that looked remarkably like pre-fabricated Northwest Coast masks. Left to be reclaimed by the earth or chipped up into cat litter...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #16
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #10
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #7
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #14
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #8
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #17
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Longing #9
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Four years ago, I stumbled upon the site of a log-home developer on the traditional territory of the We Wai Kai Nation, my reserve on northeastern Vancouver Island. I found it comica...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Landline #7
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #14
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #15
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childhood summers were spent on a his grandfather’s commercial fishing boat, navigating the waters along the coast of Vancouver Island. Assu would trace their boat’s movement on the navigational charts - comparing the landscape in front of him with its abstract representations in a spiral bound book. His grandfather had no need for these abstracted images of the land and water around him, he could read these places like the back of his hand.
As Assu remembers his childhood on the water, the charts’ demarcations become markers of a deeper loss: of land, resources, trade, communication, and kinship between the Liǥwildaʼx̱w, the Kwakwaka’wakw, and the other Pacific coastal...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #2
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #11
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Landline #3
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
They make magic lines on the land that only they can see. - A Hupacasath man’s response to early colonial surveyors demarcating the boundaries of his reserve.
Sonny Assu’s childho...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
The Away Team Beams Down to What Appears to Be an Uninhabited Planet
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix culture—as digital interventions onto works that contain the colonial gaze.
These interventions participate in the growing discourse of decolonization, acting as “tags” to challenging the colonial fantasy of terra nullius and confronting the dominant colonial culture’s continued portrayal of Indigenous peoples as a vanishing race...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Digital
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #1
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Paper, Acrylic
Cutting Edge
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Ink
Cutting Edge
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
As a kid, comic books were a form of entertainment and escape. The ideal of future monetary value in these objects was far from my kid mind. I'd crease the pages, handle the covers w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
The Treasury Edition: Spidey Spectacular #3
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...
Category
2010s Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
The paradise Syndrome, Voyage #11, #12
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Titled after an episode of Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome features new work by Sonny Assu. Combining Indigenous content with appropriated images and text from marine chart maps, co...
Category
2010s Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Tell Chakotay that we'll brb
By Sonny Assu
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix cu...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sonny Assu Art
Materials
Digital, Archival Paper
Sonny Assu art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Sonny Assu art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Sonny Assu in archival pigment print, pigment print, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Sonny Assu art, so small editions measuring 7 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Michel Piquette, Patrick Beaulieu, and David Halliday. Sonny Assu art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $700 and tops out at $6,400, while the average work can sell for $3,000.