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Chernobyl Mask (Allusion to Bakwas)

Chernobyl Mask (Allusion to Bakwas)

1993

David Neel

Canadian, Kwagu'l, born 1960

Innovation requires the foundation of tradition and is the logical progression of a culture that is dynamic and responsive to change. Neel takes an ancient tradition and develops a personal interpretation in order to comment on contemporary history and society. Bakwas, also known as chief of the ghosts, is a sometimes malevolent man-like being who transforms others into ghosts. Here, with nuclear towers upon his forehead, he is cast as the ominous destroyer, in reference to the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Ukraine that ultimately took more than 4,000 lives and spewed widespread airborne contamination over great distances.
Red cedar wood, paint, cedar bark
28 x 14 x 8 in. (71.12 x 35.56 x 20.32 cm)
Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund
97.55
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Native Visions: Northwest Coast Art, 18th Century to the Present, October 1, 1998 - January 31, 1999

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Art of Protest, April 27, 2000 - January 21, 2001

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Weird and Whimsical: Northwest Art from the Permanent Collection, January 4, 2001 - October 14, 2001

Santa Fe, New Mexico, Institute of American Indian Arts, Exposure: Native Arts and Political Ecology, August 18, 2021 - July 10, 2022
Published ReferencesWillard, Tania. "Stones, Spirits and the Unmasking of the Colonial in Nuclear Narratives." In Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss, edited by Sam Pelts, pp. 95-97, reproduced.

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