Lauren Brevner & James Harry, Sínulhḵay, 2025

Paper: Pescia, cotton rag 300 gsm, Magnani 1404, Italy. Signature: signed and numbered. Unframed.
Studio Lauren James is the collaborative duo of James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry and Lauren Brevner. James, of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation, creates work rooted in Coast Salish design and contemporary cultural resurgence. Lauren’s practice explores matriarchal influence and her Japanese-Trinidadian heritage through mixed media and public art.

Responding to the new monumental installation in Vancouver, BC, Sínulhḵay, the newest edition in this grouping, marks a bold and contemporary addition by Lauren Brevner and James Harry. Rooted in an ancestral Skwxwúmesh story, the work tells of a two-headed serpent—one head representing greed and personal gain, the other symbolizing generosity and the restoration of balance. In the story, a serpent is destroying the land and animal habitats, and so the young warrior Xwechtáal must choose: slay the “bad” head and bring the animals back, or slay the “good” head and take all the power for himself. With stark clarity and graphic immediacy, Harry and Brevner render this moral parable as a meditation on leadership, responsibility, and the stakes of personal and cultural decision-making. The serpent becomes a symbol of the same tensions explored in the other works: psychological complexity, the natural world as alive and watchful, and the lasting impacts of colonial disruption. With bold graphic energy, Sínulhḵay stands as a vital, living thread in this intergenerational conversation.

Proceeds from the sale of this print directly fund the acquisition of Super Natural Eye II created by Studio Lauren James. Featured in the Gordon Smith Gallery’s 2025-26 exhibition From The Ground, this work will be permanently installed at the new Cloverley Elementary School in North Vancouver in 2026.

Printed by Val Loewen at Malaspina Printmakers (external site)
Photo by  Rachel Topham Photography (external site)

Artist: Studio Lauren James (external site)
Artist: James Harry (external site)
Artist: Lauren Brevner (external site)