Kelsey Powless Preserves Indigenous Culture Through Wooden Mosaic Art

Kelsey Powless is an Indigenous Mohawk Snipe woodworker who comes from the Six Nations of the Grand River, Canada. She now runs her own small business, Powless and Co., that creates wooden mosaic pieces that depict Indigenous patterns to preserve and share Indigenous culture. Each pattern that Kelsey has carved onto wood contains Indigenous wisdom and visual language. This act helps to keep alive in a world where the Indigenous people of Canada are actively discriminated against, while their art and culture are deliberately being erased. This is why Kelsey Powless’ wooden mosaics are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Reduced Inequalities.

Powless calls her mosaics Mos for short and frequently shares her process on social media. This allows people to fully appreciate the hard work and dedication that Powless puts into every single wooden mosaic that she makes. The pieces she creates range from personal to client-commissioned projects, which she never forgets to imbue with Indigenous patterns and designs. Her clients include McMaster University’s Indigenous Health Learning Lodge, the Six Nations Tourism Board and several schools in Canada.

In one piece, commissioned by Indspire Canada, a national Indigenous charity that invests in education for Indigenous communities, Powless included woodcut greetings in 20 different Indigenous languages, helping to preserve and share these greetings with the general public. The greetings were also arranged in the shape of Turtle Island, the name that Indigenous communities use when referring to North America. Turtle Island, which refers to an Indigenous folktale about how the continent rests on the back of a turtle, is also considered to be a symbol of creation and life itself. Powless’s wooden mosaic piece becomes a celebration of the creation of Indigenous language.

The fact that Powless chose to create wooden mosaics to preserve the cultures of the Indigenous peoples of Canada is especially poetic, considering that Canadians often describe their country as “a mosaic”. This sentiment can be found everywhere from official government websites to articles in Canadian daily publications, symbolizing Canada’s commitment to building a multicultural nation that is inclusive and diverse. In Powless’s hands, this becomes a reminder to every Canadian to not forget their Indigenous communities when building their inclusive and diverse nation.

Kelsey Powless’s work at Powless and Co. creates profound wooden mosaics that act as Indigenous cultural preservation and advocacy. Through her small business, she not only keeps Indigenous patterns and wisdom alive but also confronts the ongoing discrimination and cultural erasure faced by the Indigenous peoples of Canada. By sharing her meticulous process on social media and working on commissioned projects with significant public exposure, Powless fosters the general public’s appreciation for Indigenous arts and culture. 

Find out more about wooden mosaics by Kelsey Powless and their other initiatives by checking their Instagram on @powlessandco.