Coast Salish digital art project educates people on Indigenous culture and issues

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Turtle Island NFT, a Coast Salish digital art project, is running a series of challenges until Dec. 20 to educate participants about Indigenous culture, issues, as well as the importance of having a positive impact on the environment. 

Named “Tortoise Tasks,” the challenges are divided into five categories — outdoors, culture, adventure, kindness, and growth — and include activities like attending a powwow, learning a word in an Indigenous language, planting a tree, doing someone’s dishes or mowing their lawn, and starting a new hobby.

“I was trying to think about my values, but also what Indigenous values could be, so caring about the environment, community, [for] a lot of Indigenous People in Canada, community is the driver behind everything, and art.” says Kass O’Rourke, the founder of Turtle Island NFT.

O’Rourke, who is from the Skatin Nation, says they also created the tasks because they enjoy adventure and “like to see people get out of their comfort zones.”

Participants are eligible for a prize draw, where the winner can choose between a trip to the Dominican Republic or the Tigh-Na-Mara Resort & Spa in Parksville, B.C.

After surveying family, friends, coworkers, and past participants of scavenger hunts O’Rourke used to put on in Victoria about which kind of prize would motivate them to participate in the tasks, they say a vacation was the top answer.

“A few other people mentioned how people think vacations are way more expensive than they are, and it dissuades people from wanting to look into it,” O’Rourke says. “By promoting that option, it would get people excited, so that’s what we did.”

To get started, interested participants must sign-up for an annual membership, which starts at $10, and complete an online waiver.

From there, participants must post a photo or video of them completing a task to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or X, formerly known as Twitter, with #TortoiseTasks and a brief description of the task written in the caption.

Once someone completes three tasks, they will get an entry for the grand prize in the competition, but they can do more to receive further entries.

Also, those who buy a non-fungible token (NFT) from the website will get an automatic entry.

There are 12 different NFTs of creatures from Turtle Island, which refers to North America for some Indigenous Peoples, including a sasquatch and thunderbird.

A treasure hunt launched this year around exploring Greater Vancouver sites while learning about Indigenous history and contributions was cancelled earlier this month after not gaining enough public interest from the project’s team and sponsors to want to move ahead with it. 

However, O’Rourke says they want to try running it again within the next year or two with more support from sponsors.

O’Rourke, who works as a naval warfare officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, was inspired to launch the first set of tasks and NFTs last year after receiving a call from a former coworker, who knew they are in the military, about sending help to his reserve that did not have clean drinking water.

“I was like, ‘I’m really honored that you thought of me, but I’m not in a position yet to just send people for that.’ It really bothered me, though, because I don’t have the money or the resources to help, and it’s important to me, that kind of stuff,” they say. 

O’Rourke says a month after the incident, they started asking themself about how they can support causes they care about, inform others of Indigenous culture, and “change ignorance into potential action.”

To support the fight for clean drinking water on reserves and other causes within the Indigenous community, O’Rourke says Turtle Island NFT donates to different organizations each year.

For more information, visit www.turtleislandnft.com/.