Joanna’s Story

Photographer Joanna Recalma has been celebrating the beauty of the West Coast since she was a child. Joanna is Pentl’atch, ’Namgis (Kwakwaka’wakw), Icelandic, Haida and Chilean. 

Recalma’s art explores themes within the stories from her childhood. These legends offer different ways to think about animals across space and time. During the Tła’sala, or Peace Dances, a dancer’s movements shake eagle down out from the headdresses and the feathers float to the Bighouse floor, symbolizing peace after conflict. 

Photography represents Recalma’s peace after the practice of conventional law.