b'A female and a male bear gaze lovingly into each others eyes. They are morehumanthanbear.Theyarebearsbecominghumanortheyare humans in love who resemble bears.They are supremely powerful crea-tures - fearsome animals who have surrendered to the simplicity of staring into the others eyes to connect to the love thats already there.The forms are hand-sculpted out of wax and then 3D scanned.I used pho-togrammetrytechnologytodocumentthousandsoffacialangleswhich were then used as the underlying structure for the heads and faces of the bears.Theresultisextremelyaccurateself-portraitsofmyselfandmy partner.Love Bears is our love story.And maybe the love story continues to expand from there.These bears are not just myself and my partner, or any two people, they become symbols of a potential for love that is available to us all. InFirstNationsmythology,bearsbecomehumantohelpusaccept aspectsofoursharedhumanity.Theyshowusprotection,nurturance, healing, and other sacrifices made in the name of love. Spirit animal trans-formationembodiescharacteristicsofsadnessandstruggletoreveal hidden, unknown potentials.The guidance often disobeys conventional rules of social behaviour in order to catalyze intuitive problem-solving and sensory intelligence. I am grateful to my Haida ancestors, Northwest Coast art and design, and to all First Nations teachings for modelling a way forward that reflects an acceptance of our connection to all living beings.Our togetherness is the only thing that matters. Dean Drever / 20199'