Bill Reid's Raven and the First Men

The Haida artist Bill Reid created the giant yellow cedar sculpture called "The Raven and the First Men," which is one of Canada's most important works of Indigenous art and is located inside the rotunda of the Museum of Anthropology. This sculpture tells the Haida creation story, where Raven, the trickster, found the first humans hiding in a giant clamshell at Rose Spit on the northern end of Haida Gwaii and coaxed them out. The carving shows Raven with spread wings, leaning towards the clamshell as the first humans emerge.

Reid carved this piece between 1978 and 1980. They couldn't find a single red cedar block large enough, so Rayonier Canada donated yellow cedar beams, which Koppers International laminated together. Several assistants worked on it: Gidansda Guujaaw did the roughing, George Rammell carved the men inside the clamshell, and Reg Davidson and Jim Hart did the final finishing. Prince Charles unveiled the sculpture on April 1, 1980, and the Haida held a celebration at the MOA on June 5, 1980, when it was permanently installed. The sculpture is 1.88 meters tall and 1.92 meters wide. From 2004 to 2011, it was even on the back of the Canadian twenty-dollar bill. Reid, who passed away in 1998, is buried at Tanu in Haida Gwaii.