Clio’s Armada: Gli Gli and the Kalinago (Carib) Canoe Tradition

Dugout canoes continue to fascinate me, as do Indigenous voyages of reconnection. Thus the 1990s journey of the Gli Gli, an Indigenous gommier canoe, in the Caribbean caught my attention. Gli Gli was the brainchild of two artists, one of whom was Kalinago and the other a white Virgin Islander, and the result of hardContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: Gli Gli and the Kalinago (Carib) Canoe Tradition”

Clio’s Armada: Loo Taas and the Not So Lost Art of Haida Canoe Carving

One boat leads to another, and there is a remarkable cache of content for me contained in the records of Expo ’86 in Vancouver. The Golden Hind replica of London, Phinisi Antar Bangsa from Indonesia, the York Boats I know so well from Fort Edmonton Park and others. And, of course, famous Haida artist BillContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: Loo Taas and the Not So Lost Art of Haida Canoe Carving”

Clio’s Armada: Moomat Ahiko and traditional Indigenous planked canoes

The Ti’at Society of California built Moomat Ahiko, a ti’at canoe in the 1990s in the traditional manner of Indigenous peoples of what is now California. This type of vessel is unique in North America, having been called “…the single most technologically complex watercraft built in North America…” I saw a short documentary about thisContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: Moomat Ahiko and traditional Indigenous planked canoes”

Clio’s Armada: Ngātokimatawhaorua and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds

I spent almost two years in New Zealand/Aotearoa and found some magnificent examples of heritage boat-building among the Indigenous Maori and the settler Pakeha peoples. One of my favourite stories was Ngātokimatawhaorua, a waka (canoe), built in the 1930s. It taught me so much about how heritage boatbuilding can be meaningful to communities, both toContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: Ngātokimatawhaorua and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds”