Canucks: Indigenous artist working on Holtby’s new mask
After Braden Holtby’s original mask design was criticized for cultural appropriation, the Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender is working on something new.
Not even an official NHL game under his belt as a member of the Vancouver Canucks and Braden Holtby has already come under fire after his new mask was criticized last week for cultural appropriation.
David Gunnarsson, his mask designer from Sweden, shared images of his completed work online as the artwork itself was something to be excited about. But the indigenous thunderbird, along with some indigenous phrasing used in the design, was not created by or collaborated on with an indigenous person. You can see a picture of the design here.
Holtby was quick to apologize for the mask, “I wanted to make sure I apologize to anyone I offended. It was definitely not my intent and I definitely learned a valuable lesson through this all and will make sure I’m better moving forward and do the things that help this community the most.”
According to Sportsnet, Gunnarsson and Holtby are working together with an Ingenious artist to make sure they get things right this time around.
“I have great respect for Indigenous artists, and Braden and I have started to collaborate with an Indigenous artist to make a new painting,” said Gunnarsson, “I have learned from this and I also want to apologize to everyone who got sad. Thank you to all who contacted me about it, thank you for your wisdom.”
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Regardless of having to do a redesign, the mask should be made available for Holtby by the start of the 2021 NHL season with the perfect touch of an Indigenous artist. Holtby will be reporting to training camp with the intention of winning the Canucks’ starting position over the 24-year-old Thatcher Demko.