Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 17/00) - Karen Wright-Fraser's brother brought a book home 17 years ago that changed her life.

The book, from the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Que., featured the traditional dress of Gwich'in ancestors.

"In all my life, I'd never seen a Gwich'in dress and I got really choked up," said Wright-Fraser, a seamstress and designer.

"I thought, 'Wow, how come I never saw anything like this my whole life?'

"I grew up in an alcoholic home in Inuvik and I didn't see many positive things about my culture, tradition and whatnot," she said. "There's other children out there who need to see this -- something so beautiful that came from their ancestors, instead of always seeing negative stuff and bullshit."

Wright-Fraser started Whispering Willows three years ago. The home-based Yellowknife company specializes in wedding and graduation dresses with a flair for traditional design. While her business keeps her busy, Wright-Fraser developed a passion to restore this part of her people's culture.

"There are all these beautiful Gwich'in dresses that nobody knows about and it's so important for people to see this -- especially children," she said.

She wanted to make a copy of a dress she saw in the book, but didn't know where to begin.

"To me it was bigger than a mountain -- it was scary, but I thought if I went one step at a time, I could do it," she said.

Working with Ingrid Kritsch, researcher for the Gwich'in Cultural Institute; Joanne Bird, curator of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre; and Alestine Andre, executive director for the Gwich'in Cultural Institute, the women decided to make a documentary about restoring the lost Gwich'in art.

The group met with Northern filmmaker Dennis Allen and agreed to document a trip to the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Smithsonian to study traditional dress. The trip was very informative for the delegation, and sparked a new interest in the art.

Matching the design and method continues to be a learning process for Wright-Fraser who has had to do a lot of detective work to recreate the age-old methods.

While at the Smithsonian and the Museum of Civilization, Wright-Fraser said they had a difficult time determining exactly how the clothing was crafted.

"They were so beautiful, so well done and so sophisticated," Wright-Fraser said.

"The patterns were so sophisticated that we could hardly figure them out. It took us a whole day just how to figure out how they made these fringes, and they would not waste anything," she said.

She was also amazed with the primitive tools her ancestors used to craft the clothing, such as a bone awl.

"I even held one -- I was so thrilled," she said with a smile. "It was made out of a loon's leg -- very sharp at the end and extremely pointy and the sinew was threaded through a hole in the joint."

Ancient seamstresses used a thin, thread-like sinew for beading in a cut unknown to Wright-Fraser.

"I've never seen anything like them. The sleeves come forward like this," she said, hunching her arms to illustrate the look. "It took us another half a day just to figure out how they did that."

Dying the porcupine quills has been something she hasn't yet been able to master, she said.

"Every book that I've read so far says that people who are using natural dyes, they always end up going back to commercial dyes," she said. "The natural just isn't taking -- it doesn't have good colour."

Traditional Gwich'in dress required the seams and joints to be anointed with the medicine power of red ochre -- a mineral that can be pounded and mixed with water for painting.

"I had to go to Rock River to get the red ochre. It's a spiritual place and I had to leave tobacco for an offering," she said.

The process of recreating the clothing will take about two years and will begin with a series of workshops in the Beaufort Delta with people from Inuvik, Aklavik, Arctic Red River and Fort McPherson participating in the project.

Starting with the hunt, the communities will learn the process step by step.

Older men will teach the young how to hunt, skin and flesh the hide.

Women will instruct on how to tan the hide and make tools, followed by porcupine quill techniques. The women will instruct on how to make patterns, cut and sew pieces.

When the project is completed, the Gwich'in hope to have a man's summer outfit, a woman's summer outfit, a young girl's summer outfit and a young boy's winter outfit.

While some have grumbled for repatriation of the century-old items held in the museums, Wright-Fraser is thankful to the southerners who have maintained these clothes.

"Some of our people will get all angry about it and say, 'What are they doing with our things?' But I'm glad they have them -- if they didn't we'd have nothing now." said Wright-Fraser.