Transformation mask

Transformation mask. Kwakwaka’wakw, Northwest coast of Canada. Late 19th century C.E. Wood, paint, and string.

• Transformation masks, like those belonging to the Kwakwaka’wakw are worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status, in part by giving away gifts to those in attendance. 
• During a potlatch, Kwakwaka’wakw dancers perform wearing the mask and costume. The masks conveyed social position (only those with a certain status could wear them) and also helped to portray a family’s genealogy by displaying (family) crest symbols.
• Kwakwaka’wakw bands are arranged into four clans (Killer Whale, Eagle, Raven, and Wolf clans). 
• The masks illustrated here display a variety of brightly colored surfaces filled with complex forms.
• Typical of the formline style is the use of an undulating, calligraphic line.
• carved of red cedar wood, an important and common material used for many Northwest Coast objects and buildings. Masks take months, sometimes years, to create. Because they are made of wood and other organic materials that quickly decay, most masks date to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 
• With the introduction and enforcement of Christianity and as a result of colonization in the nineteenth century, masking practices changed among peoples of the Northwest Coast.
• Earlier masks used natural (plant and mineral based) pigments, post-contact, brighter and more durable synthetic colors were introduced.
• Masks passed between family members of a specific clan; sign of a person’s status and rank; banned. Ceremonies still practiced today.