Inuit Mask

Mask. 1900-1974 . University of Oregon. Museum of Natural and Cultural History 1985.04. © University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History

Inuit Mask

This mask, likely meant to ward off evil spirits during sleep, may be small, but its character shines through in the unique expression on its face, its nine protruding squaw duck feathers, and the way that the mask’s facial features are highlighted by the colors applied to its surface. Upon a cursory look at the surface of the mask, one might assume that the silvery-white color along the outside-lower portion of the mask is the result of a white pigment. In fact, this is the natural color of the driftwood used to carve the mask, made white and smooth by the salt and erosion of the ocean. This natural white of the spruce driftwood, common in the St. Michael area of Alaska, contrasts with the other pigments used on the surface: a subdued yellow, blue, an earthy red, a deep black, and a vibrant orange. The intensity of the orange present in the eye holes points to the usage of aniline dye, situating this particular mask as being made after the turn of the century. In the Inuit mask making tradition, color was used to distinguish facial features and communicate meaning about the type of spirit, animal, or person depicted by the mask. However, the process of mask making was very individual to the shaman creating it, and therefore the meaning of these colors cannot be easily categorized without directly experiencing the ceremony it was created for. This deeply personal process of making was a collaboration between shamans and wood carvers, ultimately culminating in an object of both spiritual and aesthetic significance. 

Madeline Landis-Croft