Photo Gallery

Kwakiutl-face mask (University of Colorado - Boulder Museum)

Canada – B.C. – At sea - North of Prince Rupert

Canada – B.C. - Shamans rattle – Tsimshian – Nass River - Museum of Man - Ottawa

Canada – B.C. - Vancouver Island - Painting Longhouse - Cape Mudge Museum - Kwakiutl

Canada - B.C. - Kwakiutl totem pole - Cemetery of Alert Bay

White House - At the foot of a 300-meter high cliff, these houses were only accessible using ladders. This site, renamed White House, was first home to a group of Anasazi and then in the 1700s to a Navajo tribe, who were eventually murdered in 1805 by Spanish soldiers (Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, USA). - 1972

The feathers of wisdom - The chief of the Blackfeet Indian tribe, who once hunted bison on foot and unarmed by scaring the beasts off the cliffs with their cries. The name Blackfeet came from the black colour of their moccasins and leggings (State of Alberta, Canada). - 1980

This silk-screen by the Tsimshian artist Roy Vickers, shows a Chinook salmon with eggs before spawning.

Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cherokee or Comanche: In the US state of Oklahoma, Indian tribes manifest themselves in impressive ways. Here children learn their traditional dances and melodies.

The Atlakin mask dance plays an important role in the ceremonial life of the Kwakiutl. Atlakim beings are forest spirits of the most diverse appearance. Their chief is Xamsalilala. He is the first to appear and summons the other 39 spirits, one after the other, into the ceremonial hall. This Xamsalilala mask, also shown on the dust jacket, was carved in the 1940s by the famous chief and artist Willie Seaweed (1873-1967), a Nakoaktok Kwakiutl from Blunden Harbor, located on the mainland opposite Port Hardy. Bill Holm dedicated an exhibition and a book with the. title "Smoky Top" (Vulkan) to this famous chief and artist. (27 cm, MOA, A6088)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Jumping salmon with a human face illustrates the Indian belief that salmon, like all animals, are humans in other forms; detail of a silk-screen by Susan A Point, Coast Salish.

Artist Susan A. Point's work has been strongly influenced by traditionally carved spindle whorls. Here are four salmon jumping around the spindle hole. Silk-screen, 1981.

Ceremonial paddle with raven painting on it, carved out of yellow cedar, made by Tlingit artist Reggie B. Peterson as part of his apprenticeship. The handle is modelled on a soul catcher used by the shamans. (88 cm, ICC)
ICC = Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, Sitka

A small, densely woven basket with lid. The material is dyed and undyed sweet grass, interwoven to create a scene with water birds and a whaling canoe hunting a killer whale. The basket was acquired from the Makah in 1880. (Ø 24 cm, VM)
VM = Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

Four replicas of totem poles in Kitwancool: At far left is a totem pole of the frog clan with the ancestral mother and her frog children. The two poles to the right belong together and represent the wolf clan. The one to the left depicts Will-a-daugh with her wood worm children (see 42); after their death she changed herself into the mountain eagle Skim-sim.