A chief’s daughter from the Nakoaktkok Nation.
Known in English as Francine, this woman was of the ʼNakʼwaxdaʼxw tribe of British Columbia, Canada,
which was forcibly relocated from their native homeland in Ba’as (Blunden Harbour) in 1964.
Presently, the ʼNakʼwaxdaʼxw have formed a banded government with the Gwa’sala,
who were also forcibly removed by the Canadian government from the Smith Sound and Smith Inlet area.
Together, they formed the Gwaʼsala-ʼNakwaxdaʼxw Nations,
who have their main reserve at Tsulquate (Port Hardy).
The two groups are part of the wider Kwakwakaʼwakw or Kwakiutl Indigenous peoples.
Photographed by Edward Curtis in 1914,
the chief’s daughter is pictured here wearing a thick but soft cedar and wool blanket,
abalone shell earrings, copper and abalone headpieces, a nose piercing made of bone, and inscribed metal bracelets.
Abalone shell earrings are a sign of high social status among many Kwakwaka’wakw nations. (с)