The Yuka Dancing Shawl

Ancestral Healing, Resilience, and Finding Light in the Darkness

Artist Statement | Vashti Etzel, Dene Artisan

The Yuka Dancing Shawl is a deeply personal piece born from a period of grief, trauma, and healing. I began creating this shawl one year after a mental health crisis deeply affected someone close to me and our family. The experience left a lasting impact on my life, and creating this piece became a manifestation of ancestral healing.

Through this work, I wanted to bring awareness to the mental health struggles affecting our Indigenous communities and the intergenerational impacts of residential schools and colonization.

During the pandemic, while navigating my own healing, I often felt like a tiny light surrounded by an overwhelming darkness, much like a single star in the vast night sky. This feeling became an important part of the shawl's design. The black represents the darkness I was experiencing, while the bursts of colour represent light, hope, and the possibility of healing, even during our most difficult moments.

Growing up in the Yukon, I developed a deep spiritual connection to Yuka, the northern lights. I was taught that the northern lights are our ancestors dancing above us and that they are to be treated with respect. Since childhood, I have found comfort and healing in watching the Yuka move across the winter sky. Their presence reminds me that our ancestors are never truly far away and that we can continue to seek their guidance.

As I worked on the shawl, I turned to my traditional culture, language, and ancestral stories to reconnect with who I am and where I come from. I sought strength and peace through these connections, allowing my art to become a space for reflection and healing.

During this creative process, I experienced another heartbreaking loss when someone dear to me passed away. Once again, I found myself navigating grief that felt immeasurable. I called upon my ancestors for guidance and continued creating through the pain, finding strength in my culture and in my responsibility as a mother to my three young boys.

My own journey has not been without struggle. Throughout my life, I have experienced discrimination, bullying, depression, and challenges with my sense of belonging. I was bullied for being Indigenous and, at other times, for not looking Indigenous enough. These experiences affected my self-worth and the way I viewed myself for many years.

Through reconnecting with my culture, reclaiming my language, and finding my voice as an artist, I have slowly begun to heal.

I have also been sober for several years, something I carry with immense pride. My sobriety, my children, and my cultural identity have become important foundations in rebuilding my relationship with myself. Through art, I have discovered a sense of purpose, belonging, and self-worth that I once struggled to find.

The Yuka Dancing Shawl represents more than my personal healing. It speaks to the collective grief carried within our Indigenous communities, the lasting impacts of colonization, and the strength that exists within our cultural traditions.

I see myself as a cultural carrier, a teacher, and an advocate for spiritual health and healing through art and culture. My work allows me to share stories that are often difficult to speak about, to honour those we have lost, and to acknowledge those who continue to struggle.

The darkness within this shawl is intentional, but so is the light.

Like the Yuka dancing across the northern sky, the colours remind me that even in our darkest moments, there is still beauty, connection, and hope.

My art is my form of storytelling. It is my voice for those who are no longer here, for those who are struggling, and for those of us who are finding our way toward healing.

Collection: Global Affairs Canada Travelling Art Collection