Levi Nelson of Lil’wat Nation is one of four Indigenous artists selected to design the visual identity for the 2025 Invictus Games in Whistler. Nelson joins Mack Paul of Musqueam Nation, Ray Natraoro from 麻豆社国产Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s Olivia George in developing a story about the relationship between the Canadian Armed Forces, the Invictus Games and the Indigenous communities who will host the Games on their traditional territories.
The artists come from varying backgrounds. Nelson is a painter who recently completed his master’s degree in Fine Arts from Columbia University. Paul, also known as kwlasltn, is known as an advocate for the traditional Musqueam language, hn’q’min’m’. Natraoro, a.k.a. Ses Siyam, has been carving masks, poles and canoes since 1994, and George is a self-taught Coast Salish artist who enjoys doing business with clients on the North Shore.
“It’s a great honour,” Nelson says of the opportunity. “I think the Invictus Games has a really positive goal, dream, and role to play in the lives of recovering service members. They’re coming to Canada for the [second] time, and not only to Canada, but to the traditional territories of the Lil’wat, the Squamish, the Tsleil-Waututh and the Musqueam.
“All four of our Nations are very happy to host the Games and to be a part of the branding for it.”
While each Nation represents a distinct culture, language and people, there is a healthy amount of cross-pollination between them. They cross through one another’s lands often, and Nelson says there has been much collaboration in recent times as people have rediscovered art forms like blanket weaving.
The same spirit of cooperation is found in Nelson, Paul, Natraoro and George’s efforts to visually brand the Invictus Games. While their design has not yet been publicly unveiled, Nelson characterizes it as a floral pattern of paddles above a mountain range and ocean waves. The pattern can also be interpreted as representing the sun, while each element can be separated and used independently if desired.
Having always been a creative individual, Nelson took up his passion for visual arts in high school and now owns an undergraduate degree from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. His work is on display in the permanent collection of Whistler’s Audain Art Museum and the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation Art Collection, as well as several private collections across Canada.
Nelson describes himself as a professional contemporary Indigenous artist whose paintings embody Coast Salish and Northwest Coastal culture. He finds looking into stereotypes fascinating and dabbles in the abstract and fragmentary genres.
Two years in the Big Apple studying at Columbia University have certainly helped the Lil’wat artist broaden his horizons.
“It opened up a lot of doors for me, being in the centre of the art world,” Nelson says. “It really helped, being extracted from the regional art style of British Columbia and moving to New York. It shifted my work in a way that I think could potentially reach a broader audience in terms of relatability.”
Nelson has First Nations blood running through his veins, and his heritage will always be an integral part of who he is. Yet he also grew up in the Western Canada of today, and was educated in one of Earth’s most diverse cities. For Nelson to make meaningful art, he feels that it has to come from his soul, and he is influenced by more than just strictly Indigenous channels.
Above all, he believes that art has always been a compelling medium when it comes to sparking dialogue and shaping popular culture.
“Art does have the ability to say what we can’t say with words,” he says. “It relates to the imagination, it relates to the mind and to the way we see. And I think, when we put out art that is from the heart and that is truthful—and from our own experiences or a human experience—we reach a wider audience, unite people and become a part of the social fabric.”
For more information about the 2025 Invictus Games, visit invictusgames2025.ca.
