James Harry: Eye Of The Ancestor
A new sculpture by James Harry marks The Polygon Gallery’s seventh collaboration and co-commission with Burrard Arts Foundation. Eye of the Ancestor is a striking yellow cedar wooden sphere, carved with Coast Salish designs on the surface and holding a mirror-polished steel sphere inside. The composition creates layered reflections and viewpoints that shift with the viewer’s movements around the sculpture. The title is rooted in Coast Salish visual language, where the eye signifies awareness, presence, and continuity beyond the individual. The sculpture constructs this form as an immersive spatial system, transforming the eye into structure, threshold, and interior. Through calibrated light, reflection, and movement, the work enacts Indigenous pedagogies in material form, situating knowledge as relational, layered, and revealed over time.
About James Harry
James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry is a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh artist living and working in shíshálh Nation territory. Raised in a family of artists, he learned Salish design and carving from his father Xwalacktun and later completed his BFA at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His practice draws deeply on ancestral knowledge while challenging the systemic structures that have long marginalized Indigenous voices. Through collaborations with cities, developers, architects, and institutions, Harry embeds Indigenous leadership and worldview into contemporary environments by envisioning a bold, immersive, land-based future for Coast Salish art where culture is not simply represented, but actively shapes the world being built.
Opening Ceremony on Thursday, April 9
Curated by Elliott Ramsey and Joelle Johnston
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The Polygon Gallery unveils a new commission by James Harry
Banner Image: James Harry, intall view of Eye of the Ancestor, 2026. Co-commissioned by The Polygon Gallery and Burrard Arts Foundation. Photo by Akeem Nermo.