We Are of Water
We are thrilled to launch the graphic novel We Are of Water, illustrated by Chenoa Gao.
We Are of Water provides visuals connected to voices and knowledge shared by Indigenous Elders, youth, and community members through Healthy Watershed Initiative projects on the significance of watersheds and water.
“Water has a life of its own. We need to honour it. We need to respect it. We need to allow it to be free to do the work that it needs to do. Like water, the voices and illustrations of Indigenous leaders within this graphic novel are a conduit for learnings and lessons about the importance of restoring and healing the land and waterways.”
We hope these illustrated stories will amplify Indigenous voices and experience, embrace and advance inter-generational learning between youth and Elders, and foster future generations of water champions and stewards.
We have also created a colouring book version of the graphic novel to inspire creativity and allow readers to connect more intimately with this work and the messages shared.
We'd like to thank the Elders, youth, and community members who lent their voices and stories for us to share in We Are of Water. We respect that their voices were offered so their stories, knowledge, and watershed projects could be shared with the broader community. We recognize these stories are just a small piece of a much deeper narrative, history, and knowledge. We hope they will serve as a spark to one’s curiosity to connect with the land and water and learn more about this land’s history and those who have stewarded it since time immemorial.
If you have any questions about We Are of Water, please contact us at hwiprogram@refbc.ca
About the Illustrator
Chenoa Gao is a Muskeg Lake Cree Nation member. Chenoa works as a Conservation Illustrator with the B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Wetlands Workforce project, one of the 61 HWI funded projects. In this position, the idea came to be of illustrating Indigenous voices and messages that were shared with the Wetlands Workforce team. The project expanded into the completed graphic novel We Are of Water through a partnership with the Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which enabled additional voices and perspectives from elders and youth involved in a diversity of HWI projects to be included.
Chenoa didn’t have the fortune of growing up with her culture. Her mother is a product of the 60’s scoop, stripped of her identity in the many white foster homes she was placed in. She never knew how important water was to her identity, how it was a part of this giant cycle that ran so deep.
"Water is life – a mother’s unconditional love, taken away, just like children were taken from their families and placed in residential schools," said Chenoa. "Turning the Elder and youth voices into illustrations has been a transformative experience for me. It was like an awakening that allowed me to see my role as an artist and environmentalist. Sharing their stories and giving them life is so important and I hope it inspires my children and youth the way it has inspired me. I want to give back this feeling I’ve been given to the youth and those struggling with their own purpose and cultural identity."
Chenoa recognizes and honours the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations on whose traditional territories she lives, creates, and learns with her partner, two children, and dog Cookie.
