Hayak´ant´alał
Speaker
Each ’namima or family group has a designated speaker who is knowledgeable about his family’s privileges and history.
Owner
K´wamx’udi, Charlie Walkus, ‘Namgis (Alert Bay) and Awik´inuxw (Rivers Inlet)
Catalogue Information
Provenance
Owned by K´wamx’udi 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 them to Edward Sapir at the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History). They remained the property of the NMM until their repatriation by the U’mista and Nuyumbalees Cultural Societies in 1979.
Materials
Wood, Alder; Paint; Fibre, Cotton Twine
Dimensions
29.5 cm x 20.0 cm x 15.0 cm
Accession Number
80.01.026
Physical Description
Hayak´ant´alał Speaker Mask. The Speaker Mask in the collection is a partner to UCC-80.01.040. Both masks have humanoid faces with carved open mouths that allow for speeches to be spoken through. The eyes, eyebrows, eyelids, nostrils, moustache and goatee are painted black, indicating that it is a male. The facial designs are painted in beige, red and green on natural wood and are somewhat abstract unlike the facial designs of its partner. Both masks have unique noses with fine bridges that are almost beak-like. This mask has string hanging from one side and nail holes where a cloth would have been attached to conceal the wearer’s head. The mask is carved from what appears to be alder and has worm holes in many parts of the mask. Brown, black, beige, red, green.