qathet carver explores two sides of traumatic family history

Artist Ivan Rosypskye spent time in Powell River Public Library’s foyer earlier this month carving a slab of red cedar as part of an exploration project called: Carving Lost Family History/Carving a Path to Reconciliation.

The carving incorporates Rosypskye’s Heiltsuk Nation and Ukrainian familial roots. 

According to the project's mission statement: "This carving event is part of a larger research project initiated by Rosypskye, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, and the University of the Fraser Valley. The goal of the project is to research and draw attention to Ukrainian and Indigenous cultural and historical revival in the face of colonialism."

Rosypskye was contacted by an old friend from Powell River, Keith Carlson, who is the principal investigator for the project and a professor of history at the University of the Fraser Valley.

"He [Carlson] actually watched me blossom into my native culture and learning," said Rosypskye. "I've got a lot of projects in the school system and around the community."

Rosypskye came to the qathet region from Bella Bella with his mother 46 years ago.

"My mother married a Ukrainian and she lost her [Indigenous] status; that's how it went back then," said Rosypskye. "In 2001, I was up in Alert Bay learning about myself, healing myself, and then I ended up learning about the residential schools that my mother went to."

After his journey of healing, Rosypskye said he bought two carving knives and came back to Powell River, where he met  Nuu-chah-nulth carver Art Thompson. 

"My timing was perfect, so I started volunteering and that was the beginning [of my carving career]," said Rosypskye. 

At the time of an interview with the Peak on November 21, Rosypskye had a Ukrainian crest partially carved into the middle of the large slab and had plans to carve images symbolizing Heiltsuk culture in the four corners of the rectangular piece of wood.

"These are Heiltsuk crests: the eagle, the raven, the whale and the wolf," said Rosypskye. "They are like a family last name; I'm eagle family."

Rosypskye said he didn’t know a lot about his father’s Ukrainian side of the family, and that's why Alexis Klassen, a Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies student from the University of Alberta, was tasked to dig into his Ukrainian family history.

What she found was historically fascinating, but at the same time difficult for Rosypskye to take in.

"It's very powerful. I'm starting to find out about my dad's side; he came to Canada as a refugee after World War II," said Rosypskye. "My grandparents were put in concentration camps, both of them were Ukrainian farmers."

Rosypskye said the researcher found out that his grandmother would have been put in the infamous concentration camp Auschwitz because of a tattoo she had on her arm.

He said he finds that the First Nations experience of having their children taken away and put into residential schools is an interesting comparison to what's happening right now in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion in 2022, the International Criminal Court has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and taking them back to Russia.

Carlson, who is also a tier-one Canada research chair in Indigenous and community-engaged history, said he applied for a grant open to anyone studying Ukrainian-Indigenous relations; that's when he thought of  Rosypskye.

"I knew Ivan when I was a kid and knew he is now a carver, and so I contacted Ivan and we put together the idea for the project," said Carlson. "The idea was to help repatriate that family history back to Ivan, and then he could create a piece of art that would tell a story. That would hopefully be thought-provoking to students and the general public about colonialism and imposition, from both his mother's side in Canada and what happened in Ukraine."

Carlson said it's helpful for students and the public to see history and how it plays out in a broader perspective.

"We're trying to emphasize that some things about the process of colonization have similarities but some things are different," added Carlson. "Ukraine has been colonized by so many different powers over the past 200 years, it's a very complicated story."

Rosypskye will be finishing the piece at Brooks Secondary School on December 10 and 11.

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