What was seemingly intended to celebrate indigenous art and culture has turned into a huge hot potato for well-known hockey mask artist David Gunnarsson and Vancouver Canucks goaltender Braden Holtby. Gunnarsson, a Swedish artist who has done countless masks for NHL goaltenders, has pulled the picture he posted of Holtby's new helmet after several people complained about the artwork.
Gunnarsson had painted Holtby's new mask "based on the myth of the Thunderbird, a Canadian north west coast myth," he explained in a post on his official Instagram account, which has since been removed. After he posted it, and it popped up in several other spots across different social media platforms, many questioned whether any indigenous artists had any hand or were consulted in the creation of the mask. It appears the answer to that is no.
Check out Holtby's #Canucks mask!!!! @LEASTvan @benske31 pic.twitter.com/FRppFk1V65— Toddske (@Toddske) December 12, 2020
I'm sorry @daveartofficial @Canucks and @Sportsnet, this is clearly cultural appropriation. Fine for artist to be inspired by FN artistry but for same artist to gain fame and money over it is not right - the culture in BC has been gaining awareness on this issue for years. /1— Bart Simpson (@TallBartSimpson) December 12, 2020
Missed opportunity to do some really cool with a local artists by Holtby.
He seems like a salt of the earth human, and im sure Holtby will continue to be an outstanding role model. But the mask is a misstep in the way it was executed.— Jay (@JHamilton_87) December 11, 2020
Referring to it as coming from a “myth” shows lack of understanding of the culture it's being taken from. This is Disney interpreting Bill Reid. @Canucks and @BradenHoltby need to do better and remember where we're from. And @sportsnet - you should be calling this out. /2— Bart Simpson (@TallBartSimpson) December 12, 2020
The Instagram post, which you can see a screenshot of below, has since been removed. Although there's been no official explanation from Gunnersson on why, it's pretty much a given the backlash is the cause. Whether the mask ever sees the light of day in an NHL game remains to be seen. It appears some indigenous artists themselves aren't happy with the helmet as a local news outlet is planning to talk to them for a story.
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