Chernobyl Mask (Allusion to Bakwas)

Date1993

Maker David Neel Canadian, Kwagu'l, born 1960

Label TextInnovation 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.

Object number97.55

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, 2022Published 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. Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology. Exh. cat. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Santa Fe: Radius Books, 2022: pp. 112-115, reproduced pp. 113, 115.

Credit LineMargaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund

Dimensions28 x 14 x 8 in. (71.12 x 35.56 x 20.32 cm)

MediumRed cedar wood, paint, cedar bark