Gwaai Edenshaw is a Haida artist and filmmaker from Canada.[2] Along with Helen Haig-Brown, he co-directed Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵʹuuna), the first Haida language feature film.[3]
Gwaai Edenshaw | |
---|---|
Born | 1977 (age 44–45)[1] Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia |
Pen name | Hluugitgaa (Haida) |
Occupation | Artist, filmmaker, writer |
Nationality | Canadian |
Notable works | Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵʹuuna) |
Relatives | Guujaaw (father) |
Website | |
gwaai |
The son of noted Haida artist Guujaaw (Gary Edenshaw), he was raised on Haida Gwaii.[4] At age 16, he went to Vancouver to apprentice as an artist with Bill Reid.[5] He received a diploma in jewellery design from Vancouver Community College.[2] As of 2018, he lived in Sechelt, BC with his partner, musician Kinnie Starr.[6]
As an artist, Edenshaw has worked primarily in woodcarving and jewellery, as well as some work in sketch and painting.[4] His work has been exhibited in a number of galleries in both Canada and the United States,[2] and he curated a show on indigenous erotica in 2013.[7]
He created Haidawood, an animated web series which premiered in 2007, and cowrote the theatrical play Sounding Gambling Sticks with his brother Jaalen Edenshaw in 2008.[2] He wrote some Haida-inspired music for Bruce Ruddell's 2010 rock opera Beyond Eden.[8] He is a founding member of Q’altsi’da Kaa, a group which promotes traditional Haida storytelling.[2]
In 2017 Edenshaw and Haig-Brown began production on Edge of the Knife.[9] Based on the traditional Haida story of Gaagiixid the "wild man", who loses his grip on reality in the forest before being returned to his community in a healing ceremony,[3] the film had its theatrical premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.[10]
The film won the awards for Best Canadian Film and Best British Columbia Film at the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival,[11] and the Sun Jury Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.[12] It won several year-end awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, for Best Canadian Film and Best British Columbia Film, Best Director and Best Actor (Tyler York).[13] It was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2018.[14]
[Starr] now calls Sechelt, BC home; and shares her life with partner, Gwaai Edenshaw, a renowned carver and the son of Guujaaw.