The University of Oregon welcomes the Totem Pole Journey, the intertribal nonprofit organization Se’Si’Le, and The Natural History Museum’s Whale People exhibit to campus for a series of events May 5th through 8th, 2022.                                       

The Totem Pole Journey is led by members of Lummi Nation and the House of Tears Carvers. The 2022 totem pole journey is the latest in a dozen journeys conducted over the past 20 years. The 2022 journey builds upon, strengthens, and reaffirms the growing, Indigenous-led environmental movement across the Pacific Northwest that began with a successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuels projects in the region.

The Totem Pole Journey inspires, informs, and engages Pacific Northwest communities through intergenerational voices, ceremony, art, science, spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and cross-cultural collaboration in support of the Indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore to health the Snake River salmon runs and our relatives, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Skali’Chelh in the Lummi  language) that depend on them.

Whale People: Protectors of the Sea

Whale People: Protectors of the Sea is an exhibition by the art collective known as The Natural History Museum, featuring a 3,000 pound killer whale pole and salmon carvings created by Master Carver Jewell James and the House of Tears Carvers, and an award-winning outdoor IMAX-style film projection. Produced with Lummi and Tsleil-Waututh elders, the exhibition tells the story of today’s environmental emergency through the figure of the killer whale, and uplifts the leadership of Native Nations in coming together to protect natural and cultural heritage, the sacred waters, the orcas, the salmon, and our collective future.

Upcoming Events

Project Overview

Se’Si’Le Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey to a Solution

Background: The 2022 totem pole journey will be one of a dozen totem pole journeys conducted by the
project leads over the past 20 years. The most recent example, the 2021 Red Road Totem Pole Journey to
DC, was dedicated to the protection of sacred sites and reached an estimated 1.2 million people over a period of the twenty-day journey to the Capitol (www.redroadtodc.org). The 2022 journey builds upon, strengthens and reaffirms the growing indigenous-led environmental movement across the Pacific Northwest that began with the successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuels projects. The fossil fuels campaign included 4 totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads.

Goal: The goal is to inspire, inform, and engage Pacific Northwest communities through intergenerational
voices, ceremony, art and science, spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and cross-cultural collaboration in
support of the indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore to health the Snake
River salmon runs and our relatives, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Skali’Chelh in the Lummi
language) that depend on them.

Approach and Scope: In order to engage the public, inspire and broaden the narrative, and further influence events on the Snake River dam issue it is necessary to engage the intellect, emotion, and imagination through a creative mix of generations, vision, venues and voices. The journey includes public events in metropolitan areas emphasizing creative collaboration, intergenerational voices,science and ceremony (Eugene, Astoria, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma), events in tribal communities (Lummi, Grand Ronde, Chinook, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone Bannock, and the Village of Celilo). In each instance cultural arts will inspire new ways of imagining and understanding our natural heritage through the inspiration of the totem pole and in two locations (Eugene and Umatilla) the award-winning Whale Protectors Exhibit. In-person events will include ceremonial moments steeped in ancestral knowledge to deepen understandings of the challenges and avenues for cross-cultural collaboration and engagement.

Impact and Outcomes: The impacts and outcomes will include, but not be limited to:
1. promoting through creative communication the urgent need for unity and solidarity in order to remove
the Snake River Dams;
2. engaging the broad-based general public through high-profile events in key metropolitan areas;
3. honoring the rights of nature, the spirit of the Snake River, and the indigenous–led Snake River
campaign through ancestral knowledge and ceremonial activities;
4. increasing understanding in the broad public about the role indigenous rights play in critical
environmental issues; and
5. providing a rich menu of opportunities for public engagement

Se’Si’Le Partners: Participating tribal communities, the Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers, Nimiipuu
Protecting the Environment, the Natural History Museum, University of Oregon (Native American Student
Union), University of Washington (wǝɫǝbʔaltxw– Intellectual House)