Tlʼetsʼatsʼin - Working Together
The completed Tlʼetsʼatsʼin (Working Together) mural
Northern Tuchtone artist Lianne Marie Leda Charlie collaborated with her community to create a mural that celebrates all of the ways Indigenous communities work together to share Indigenous Knowledge about living off the land.
Learn how this inspiring artwork went from concept to completion in the photos below.
One day, Northern Tutchone artist Lianne Marie Leda Charlie asked a local Elder "What comes to mind when you think of Indigenous Peoples working together?"
Lianne started by sketching Kwanlin Dϋn First Nation Elder Dianne Smith’s reflections on the "old days" – working together to live off the land, cutting fish, drying meat, and living in bush camps.
Once the initial drawing was ready, Lianne invited the community to join her in painting the mural during Whitehorse’s annual Adaka festival.
The mural blends imagery of both past and present village life, representing ideas of family, genealogy, responsibility, clan, and caring for one another.
The mural was made with support from Teya Rear, Jody Nuyaviak, Alberta Sam, and more than 40 youth, adults, and Elders at the Adäka Cultural Festival, Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, in Whitehorse, Yukon June 29-July 3, 2022.
Tl’ets’ats’in means "working together" in Northern Tutchone. It also means sharing the hard work, skills and knowledge needed to live off the land.
Following a prayer from Elder Anne Bernard, the finished mural was proudly unveiled. It now hangs on the wall of ISC/CIRNAC’s Whitehorse regional office on the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dϋn First Nation and the Ta’an Kwachan Council.