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Art from the Pacific Northwest. These are a pair of photographs from the Smithsonian show: "The Art of Native Life along the North Pacific Coast" at the recently opened (2004) National Museum of the American Indian.
Most of the work in the show comes from British Columbia, Canada, with the rest coming from Alaska and Washington State.
This mask c. 1890, represents Nax Nok or Owl to the Gitxsan Indians on the Upper Skeena River, British Columbia. According to local legend, a child was abducted by a White Owl. When the child was returned the family chose an Owl for their family crest.
Compare with Maya mythology: in the Popul Vuh, Owls are associated with Xibalba, the sinister Maya underworld.
(Feb. 12, 2009) Also compare with:
(a) Freud's theory of the "superego" or the censor; and
(b) the modern mythology of alien abductions. See also: Jung's "Flying Saucers" (1959).
I call this photo, taken in October 2006:
"Masks."
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