Atłak´ima
Dance of the Forest Spirits Mask
Catalogue Information
Provenance
Owned by Harry Mountain until its forced surrender to Indian Agent William Halliday on March 25, 1922. Halliday later displayed and photographed the seized pieces at the Parish Hall in Alert Bay. After doing an inventory, he crated the items in June, and at the end of September he shipped some of them to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, on long-term loan from the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History). They remained in the possession of the ROM until the NMM pulled its loan and returned the pieces to the Nuyumbalees and U'mista cultural societies in 1988.
Materials
Wood, Red Cedar; Paint; Raffia; Bark, Cedar; Fabric, Wool; Metal, Nails
Accession Number
88.06.006
Physical Description
Atłak´ima (Dance of the Forest Spirits) Mask belonging to Harry Mountain from the Mamalilikala. It is whitewashed which is typical of Atłak´ima masks and has natural colored raffia imitating pounded and dyed red cedar bark that would normally decorate these types of masks. However, it has thick eyebrows painted black and irises and pupils that are bulging and staring, also painted black. There are black dash lines that could signify a moustache, but sit high on the cheeks. The lips are painted red and have a carved open mouth for sound to be projected through. The sight holes for the dancer are carved through the nostrils. The mask has “Mountain” pencilled on the back of the mask and has Hudson Bay blanket strips attached for straps to hold the large mask on the wearer's head.