Marianne Nicolson  Marianne Nicolson (‘Tayagila’ogwa; born 1969) is a Dzawada’enuxw visual artist whose work explores the margins at which public access to First Nations artifacts clashes with the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge. Born in Comox, British Columbia, she was trained by a master carver in traditional Kwakwaka’wakw design in the early 1990s. She utilizes painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, and installation to create modern depictions of traditional Kwakwaka’wakw beliefs, and has exhibited in Canada and throughout the world since 1992. Marianne Nicolson was born in 1969, in Comox, British Columbia to a Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations mother of the Dzawada'enuxw descent, and a Scottish immigrant father from Stornoway. She decided to become an artist when she was five years old. Nicolson is an outspoken advocate for Indigenous land rights, and integrates this in her artwork. Nicolson is involved in her community, both as a Nunwakola Cultural Society board member and through artistic projects. One community project in 2019 gathered over 55 participants, young and old, connected to the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw (part of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations). As part of a fish farming protest, Nicolson and the participants created a pictograph series. These pictographs were not only community building but they also played off her cliff painting from 1998. She currently lives in the Kwakwaka’wakw community of Kingcome Inlet, BC (Dzawada’enuxw people), after moving there in the 1990s. In 1996, Nicolson graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She continued her education at the University of Victoria (UVIC) in 1999, receiving her Master of Fine Arts. In 2005, after returning to UVIC, she graduated with a Masters in Linguistics and Anthropology. Later on, she received her PhD in Anthropology and Art History, also from UVIC. She also studied the Kwak’wala language and directed research investigating the link between indigenous language and indigenous worldview. Her practice is multi-disciplinary encompassing photography, painting, carving, video, installation, monumental public art, writing and speaking. All her work is political in nature and seeks to uphold Kwakwaka’wakw traditional philosophy and worldview through contemporary mediums and technology.