Accompanied by over 300 contemporary and historical photographs, this is a vivid and powerful document of Indigenous experiences of reconnection, reclamation, and return.

Where the Power Is: Indigenous Perspectives on Northwest Coast Art, written by Karen Duffek, Bill McLennan, and Jordan Wilson, and in collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, brings together contemporary Indigenous knowledge holders with extraordinary works of historical Northwest Coast art, that transcend the category of art or artifact.

Dozens of Indigenous artists and community members visited the Museum of Anthropology to engage with these objects and learn from the hands of their ancestors. The photographs and their commentaries speak to the connections between tangible and intangible cultural belongings; how art remains part of Northwest Coast peoples' ongoing relationships to their territories and governance; Indigenous experiences of reconnection, reclamation, and return; and critical and necessary conversations around the role of museums.

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• Figure 1 Publishing, 2021 
• Hardcover, 372 pages
• 10 x 12"
• 2022 BC and Yukon Book Prize Finalist
• 2022 Vancouver Book Award Recipient from the City of Vancouver

Karen Duffek is the Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts and Pacific Northwest at MOA. Committed to supporting the activation of Northwest Coast Indigenous collections inside and outside the museum, her research, exhibitions, and publications focus on the relationships between historical and contemporary art practices, museum collections, communities, and art markets.

Bill McLennan (1948–2020) was the curator emeritus of the Pacific Northwest at MOA. His pioneering research with infrared photography resulted in The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations (with Karen Duffek, 2000); this book and other achievements reflect his passion for researching the history and dynamics of Northwest Coast art, and for sharing his knowledge with others.

Jordan Wilson is a Musqueam curator, writer, and Ph.D. student in Anthropology at New York University. He has published on Musqueam and contemporary Indigenous art and has co-curated two exhibitions at MOA: cəsnaʔəm, the city before the city (2015) and In a Different Light: Reflecting on Northwest Coast Art (2017).