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Mask of the Crooked Beak (Galukw’amhł),

Mask of the Crooked Beak (Galukw’amhł),

ca. 1920

Crooked Beak, and his cohorts Huxwhukw and Man-eating Raven, command the dance floor when the wild hamat’sa dancer temporarily takes leave. Ironically, these fearsome birds participate in the ritual taming of the hamat’sa, who re-enters the dance floor wearing a cedar bark headdress and neck ring, symbolic of his ritual transformation.
Red cedar wood, paint, cedar bark, leather, and nails
12 x 10 in. (30.48 x 25.4 cm)
Diam.: 24 in.
Gift of Phil and Sylvia Duryee
96.97
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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