Sonny Assu


Sonny Assu is a Ligwilda'xw Kwakwaka'wakw contemporary artist.
Assu was given a suburban upbringing by his grandparents in North Delta, British Columbia, and didn't learn of his own Kwakwaka'wakw heritage until he was eight years old. He studied painting at Kwantlen College and then at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where he combined his interests in pop art with traditional drum-making and cedar bark weaving.
Assu was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2012, 2013, and 2015. In 2017 he was the recipient of a REVEAL Indigenous Art Award / Prix en art autochtone from the Hnatyshyn Foundation.
Assu is an author in the graphic novel anthology "This Place: 150 Years Retold." His story, 'Tilted Ground,' follows Assu's great-great-grandfather as well as the Potlatch Ban in Canada.

Collections

A work of Assu spoofing the Coca-Cola logo and replacing it by the words "Enjoy Coast-Salish Territory" is in the collection of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. He also has works in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, the , Whistler, BC, and Burnaby Art Gallery, amongst others.

Select Exhibitions