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Enjoy Beautiful bastiqiyu

Pronounced “Bas-teh-KEE-u”  translating to “it has wolves”, referencing the Washington Park neighborhood, approximately just north of Denny Blaine Park.

“Before colonial settlers came to our territories, all the places that now have English names had names in Lushootseed. The paintings in this exhibit pay homage to those names. The names that my ancestors gave to these places were often descriptions of the natural characteristics of the land. “bastiqiyu” translates to “it has wolves,” meaning that you were likely to encounter a wolf at or near that place. “txsIaR” translates into “place of the raven.” It is important to remember these characteristics my ancestors identified and to remember the language that my ancestors spoke.

In this time that governments and institutions are giving “land acknowledgments” before meetings and gatherings, it is very important that we not only acknowledge the land, but that we also acknowledge the language my ancestors spoke and the individual characteristics of the land they lived on.”

– Joe Seymour Jr.