The logo, designed by Ucluelet high school student Koyah Morgan-Banke, features two hands holding a heart above the words “Be Kind.”
On Wednesday, it was worn on T-shirts and hoodies across Canada to mark Pink Shirt Day, an annual event to promote kindness, empathy and taking a stand against bullying.
The Grade 12 student from the Toquaht Nation and Secwépemc First Nation said her design was inspired by imagery in her culture, which often features important symbols, such as salmon or the sun, clutched by a pair of hands.
It’s “a protective, uplifting” symbol that she wanted to combine with a simple heart for the anti-bullying day, she said.
“It’s important to be aware of everyone else’s hearts. They’re literally in our hands and it’s easy to forget sometimes,” the 17-year-old said.
Koyah’s design was selected to be printed on pink shirts and hoodies sold by Pink Shirt Day Canada and was featured on the organization’s national broadcast to mark the day.
Koyah said it was “unbelievable” when she found out the organization wanted her art for the annual event.
“It felt really good for my nation. There’s about 175 people in the Toquaht Nation, so it feels really good to get some exposure. We’re not just the little guys. We can do big things,” she said.
Koyah originally submitted her design to a small competition held by the Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council, which supports 11 Coast Salish nations. After winning, she wrote a short artist statement to go with her work.
That caught the attention of someone at the WITS Programs Foundation, the charity behind Pink Shirt Day Canada, who told Koyah he felt moved by her image and statement. He asked if she would participate in the event and if the foundation could use Koyah’s image for their Pink Shirt Day clothing this year.
“It was like one of those emails that pops up in your folder and you’re like: ‘Wow! What in the world is this?’ ” Koyah said.
Koyah was interviewed on three live shows broadcast nationally on Wednesday hosted by Pink Shirt Day Canada. She also gave an opening ceremony welcome in her Nuu-Chah-Nulth language and a land acknowledgement for the Lekwungen territory. “It was amazing. It’s been a crazy day for me.”
Artistic talent runs in Koyah’s family — her father is a carver and her grandparents and her sister are artists — and the teen is no different.
She is a volunteer art instructor in her spare time and sits on an advisory panel at her school that provides input on installing Nuu-Chah-Nulth art in the building.
Koyah had only recently shifted her artistic interest to Indigenous designs when the design was selected by Pink Shirt Day Canada.
While she said art will always be her passion, she has her sights set on studying science in university next year and eventually going to medical school.
Pink Shirt Day is marked in Canada on the last Wednesday in February. The day has its origins in a simple act of kindness in Berwick, Nova Scotia, in which two Grade 12 students bought dozens of pink shirts after a new student at their school was bullied for wearing the colour.
When the two students started distributing the pink shirts they had bought, they discovered many students were already dressed in pink.
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