Eunice Ketchemonia-Cote cretes unique designs but says her designs have been duplicated. Her attempts to prevent it have failed so she has stopped trying. (Photos from Facebook used with permission)

By NC Raine/Eagle Feather News

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Eunice Ketchemonia-Cote, who creates unique ribbon skirts and star blankets says social media can be a double-edge sword for home-based artists like herself.

From the Keeseekoose First Nation, she often posts and sells her items on Facebook because it’s a quick way to showcase her work.

As a result, Ketchemonia-Cote’s one-of-a-kind designs have been replicated without her consent more times than she can remember.

“I think it’s a problem that happens a lot more than people realize,” said Audrey Dreaver, an artist and program co-ordinator of Indigenous Fine Arts at the First Nations University of Canada.

She said misusing or outright theft of Indigenous people’s artwork or “intellectual property” has been happening for decades.

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“It’s a weird phenomenon that is claiming to honour Indigenous people but is really offensive in the underhanded way it’s done,” said Dreaver.

She said misusing or outright theft of Indigenous people’s artwork or “intellectual property” has been happening for decades.

“It’s a weird phenomenon that is claiming to honour Indigenous people but is really offensive in the underhanded way it’s done,” said Dreaver.

“I don’t think there’s any way that when someone is appropriated – which is taking something without permission from the community, nation, or artist – that it is honouring anything. It’s almost always done to build their own reputation or money.”

Most people can think of several first-hand examples of witnessing or experiencing cultural appropriation, such as a non-Indigenous person wearing a headdress as a costume or for fashion.

However, the problem extends even further, said Dreaver, to manipulating someone’s artwork or design and calling it their own.

For the full version of this story, head to Eagle Feather News.

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