Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, California

Note:

Born in the community of Yalis (Alert Bay), British Columbia, Beau Dick, known as Walas Gwa'yam ('Big Whale'), is widely acknowledged for his importance as both an artist and activist. His artworks have contributed to the ceremonial life of his community, and have expanded the popular conception of Northwest Coast art and imagery among collectors and fellow artists.

Many of Dick’s artworks take on a haunting or otherworldly aspect, mediated by the artist's integration of a colour palette and style incorporating imagery from Japanese and Western pop culture.

Among Dick’s many creations are masks of the type used in ceremony, particularly Atlakim masks, such as the present example, made to be worn in the Dance of the Forest Spirits, a subject which Beau Dick had an inherited right to dance and carve. Atlakim masks often have a rough, unrefined appearance due to being carved expeditiously. If used in dance, Atlakim masks are sometimes later ceremonially destroyed in fire, as in 2012 when Beau Dick exhibited forty Atlakim masks at the gallery Ceremonial/Art in Vancouver, B.C. before their final use and burning later that year.[1]

The present Atlakim mask exhibits the typical characteristics of the type, most notably a slightly ajar mouth with red lips, and an overall white colouration. The faceted carving of the face, rubber rigging on the reverse, and exclusion of an artist signature are all diagnostic of a mask made to be danced. The lack of soiling on the inside of the mask, typically caused by contact with the perspiring face of a dancer, suggests that, for whatever reason, the present mask was not used, sparing it the fate of being consigned to the coals.

[1] Kevin Griffin, “Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch masks: Art made to be destroyed”, Vancouver Sun, accessed 17 April 2026, https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/kwakwakawakw-potlatch-masks-art-made-to-be-destroyed