artist biography

Carly Nabess was born and raised on the traditional territory of the Tsimshian people. She expresses deep gratitude to the Tsimshian people and communities who have welcomed her, and she continues to work at being a good and grateful guest on their lands. The rivers and woods of the northwest, in Terrace, BC, have shaped and raised her, and that relationship is reflected throughout the work she creates.

Carly Nabess is a Métis relational maker whose practice is rooted in stitchwork. She is an interdisciplinary artist creating Métis flatstitch beadwork that is co-created with the ancestors, her various mentors, and sometimes her dog kin. Her work is a collaboration between land, place, kin—including plants and Banjo, her pup—mentors, archival documents, and the ancestors.

Her current practice focuses on stitching tuppies (dog blankets) and engages themes of reclamation, Indigenous joy as a form of resistance to colonial oppression, longing and nostalgia, intergenerational transmission of knowledge, love, and healing.

She also creates beaded and tufted watercolour landscape paintings, as well as murals co-created with community members and youth. Her work integrates her diverse cultural background and a wide range of mediums, from paint to beads, and from woodburning to ink.

Carly shares her paternal Métis lineage as a way of situating herself within her Métis community and identity. She is the daughter of Gayton Nabess, a Métis carver. Her paternal grandfather, Andre “Andy” Nabess, was born in The Pas to William “Bill” Nabess and Elizabeth Nabess (née Campbell). Her grandmother, Olive Nabess (née O’Neil), was born in The Pas, Manitoba, in 1935 to Rose Delaronde, from Skownan, Manitoba, Treaty 2 Territory, and Alvin O’Neil.

She introduces her lineage because it grounds and situates her within her Métis community and identity.