Vina Brown

Vina Brown grew up in unceded Haíłzaqv territory also known as Bella Bella, British Columbia, and she currently lives on the Lummi reservation in Washington State. She is a member of the Haíłzaqv Nation (Bella Bella) and she is Nuučaan̓uɫ (Nutka) on her maternal side. ƛ̓áqvas gḷ́w̓aqs, which loosely translates to “Copper Canoe Woman” is Vina Brown’s indigenous name. Vina is a weaver and beader. She first learned to bead, weave, and sew from her aunties and grandmothers and spent a lot of time immersed in the painting and carving of Northwest coast formline. She sees art-making as an inherent right as an Indigenous human being, a part of her cultural continuation, creating art to preserve the stories of my ancestors and family. Vina creates modern, on-trend, Indigenous jewelry that’s infused with elements of her coastal Indigenous culture and identity. She designs pieces she would want to wear, big statement pieces with a deep connection to ancestral strength and elegance. Her work has been highlighted on the runways at New York Fashion Week, Santa Fe Indian Market Fashion Show, and Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, and several local and Indigenous media outlets.

Through art I’ve become connected to my roots in ways I never imagined. This journey has been an unraveling, a reclamation of Indigenous womanhood and of creation. I am grateful for my identity, my culture, that I carry in this physical realm, and I am grateful for you. Without your support it would be so much harder to be vulnerable and share parts of my soul I’d otherwise keep hidden. I am grateful to be my true self with you. All work comes from kind intentions and hopefully my most authentic self.​ I hope you are good, I hope you are taken care of, sending you light and love. Tkleco, Tkleco. —Vina Brown