Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Image Not Available for Pukamani pole
Pukamani pole
Image Not Available for Pukamani pole

Pukamani pole

Date1999
Label TextStanding in extreme contrast to figural poles, this pole depicts the human form as a stack of geometric shapes. Leon Puruntatameri states, "I mainly use poles for burial sites. I do body painting design, a lot of detail. My father showed me how to carve, how to paint." Learning from the past but adapting to the present, Leon's father would have carved his poles out of bloodwood and painted with natural ochres which gradually deteriorated at a gravesite. Current carvers use ironwood and fixatives to ensure the longevity of their poles.
Object number2005.155
Provenance[Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association, Winnellie, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2000
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Sorry Business, July 30, 2001 - January 2, 2006
Credit LineGift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions104 5/16 in. (265 cm)
MediumNatural pigments with fixative on ironwood
Pedro (Gurrumaiyuwa) Wonaeamirri
1999
Object number: 2005.154
Photo by Paul Macapia
1995
Object number: 2005.152
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Cote d'Ivoire
20th century
Object number: 2012.29.20
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Tanzanian
20th century
Object number: 2012.29.21
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
ca. 1970s
Object number: 2017.1.8
Photo: iocolor, Seattle
Wanyubi Marika
2003
Object number: 2005.158
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Tanzanian
20th century
Object number: 2012.29.19