FROGS BRING HAPPINESS

Riiibit

Ben Davidson (Haida/Canadian)

This cheerful piece immediately put a smile on my face when I saw it in a Pacific Northwest native art gallery in Seattle.

According to its creator, the late Haida artist Ben Davidson, ‘the frog—crab of the woods—is celebrated to be the voice of all people and to bring happiness.’

The Haida are an indigenous people who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii (formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands), an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 12,500 years.

Appropriately named Riiibit, this serigraph exemplifies Ben’s innovation on classic Pacific Northwest ‘formline’ design characterized by continuous, flowing, curvilinear lines that turn, swell, and diminish.

Writing in 2017, Ben describes making Riiibit…

I had a piece of cedar in my studio that I wanted to turn into a panel. Usually, I cut a piece of cedar in half and glue the pieces together to make a more traditionally shaped panel. But this piece was so beautiful that I felt compelled to honour it, and to find the design within its wholeness rather than its pieces. What emerged was this frog who was so stretched out and filled with life that he almost escaped from the wood. The black and red honour our history, and the yellow of his foot honours our ability to innovate during times of change, for these innovations are the key to strengthening our resiliency.

Ben certainly fulfilled his Haida name—tlajang nang kingaas—‘the one known far away.’ Riiibit has lived with me on a variety of continents. And continues to put a smile on my face.