Eunice Ketchemonia-Cote cretes unique designs but says her designs have been duplicated. Her attempts to prevent it have failed so she has stopped trying. (Photos from Facebook used with permission)

By NC Raine, Local Journalism Initiative

Capitalizing on Indigenous art

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Aug 26, 2024 | 8:26 AM

Eunice Ketchemonia-Cote, who creates unique ribbon skirts and star blankets says social media can be a double-edge sword for home-based artists like herself.

From the Keeseekoose First Nation, she often posts and sells her items on Facebook because it’s a quick way to showcase her work.

As a result, Ketchemonia-Cote’s one-of-a-kind designs have been replicated without her consent more times than she can remember.

“I think it’s a problem that happens a lot more than people realize,” said Audrey Dreaver, an artist and program co-ordinator of Indigenous Fine Arts at the First Nations University of Canada.

She said misusing or outright theft of Indigenous people’s artwork or “intellectual property” has been happening for decades.

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“It’s a weird phenomenon that is claiming to honour Indigenous people but is really offensive in the underhanded way it’s done,” said Dreaver.

“I don’t think there’s any way that when someone is appropriated – which is taking something without permission from the community, nation, or artist – that it is honouring anything. It’s almost always done to build their own reputation or money.”

Most people can think of several first-hand examples of witnessing or experiencing cultural appropriation, such as a non-Indigenous person wearing a headdress as a costume or for fashion.

However, the problem extends even further, said Dreaver, to manipulating someone’s artwork or design and calling it their own.

“This is not new. North American and European settlers have been appropriating Indigenous work for a long time,” she said. “When you are learning art, you are taught that as long as you change one or two little things, it’s your original. It’s not. It’s appropriation. There’s an attitude of entitlement that we can use whatever inspires us.”

There are many examples of this happening.

Canadian Métis artist Christi Belcourt landed a collaboration with Italian fashion brand Valentino.

It was presented as a respectful and mutually beneficial collaboration, Valentino asked if they could transfer one of Belcourt’s paintings to various fabrics to create clothing.

In 2015 the line made its debut at Paris Fashion Week.

Shortly after the collaboration, Belcourt discovered the fashion brand had appropriated a headdress on one of their shoeboxes. Another artist found antique Kiowa and Cheyenne beadwork designs reproduced on a Valentino backpack.

“I think it’s an example of a (brand) starting a collaboration, or making a small effort to collaborate,,” said Dreaver. “Unfortunately. some of those attempts feel like a coverup,”

Other designers such as Bethany Yellowtail have also experienced cultural appropriation from larger brands. An online blog called Native Appropriations has written about both Belcourt and Yellowtail’s experiences as well as other instances of cultural appropriation.

“Respecting intellectual knowledge and property is not something you see in the fashion industry,” said Dreaver. “That’s the problem – the idea of copyright is extremely different in the settler culture and our culture.”

Ketchemonia-Cote doesn’t know what she can do to prevent the pirating of her art.

“At first it really bothered me,” she said. “But life is too short, there’s nothing you can do about it. So why go through the stress?”

To prevent others from using her work, Ketchemonia-Cote said she used to watermark her photos before posting them, but with technology now, people can easily remove the watermark.

“I think mostly about the people who are buying this stuff, they are getting ripped off,” she said. “They aren’t getting [original] designs.”

In the United States, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) of 1990 is a law that prohibits misrepresentation in the marketing of Indian art and craft products within the United States. No such comparable law exists in Canada.

“They want to show everyone that they are supportive of Indigenous people, but it’s a struggle. And copyright is one of those areas,” said Dreaver. “They won’t look at anything that has to do with Indigenous ideas of copyright and intellectual property.”

Dreaver believes it’s time Canada created an Act to protect Indigenous artists in the same way the IACA protects artists in the US.

“We can speculate as to why we don’t have those protections here,” she said. “People will blame it on [Indigenous] people for not advocating for themselves. But there has been a lot of advocacy that isn’t listened to.”