Galukw'amhl (Mask of the Crooked Beak)

Willie Seaweed's crooked-beak mask, or galukw'amhl in Kwakwala language, was made originally as part of a set of hamatsa masks, which are among the most dramatic of Kwakwaka'wakw sculpture. The hamatsa masks are used in the tseyka, or red cedar bark ceremony, and represent the associates of the cannibal spirit Baxwbakwalanukwsiwe'. The masks are worn in a dance by an initiate who personifies the cannibal spirit during a complex ceremony in which the initiate is tamed and pacified, ultimately exhibiting the preferred and honored behavior of a high-ranking person. The privilege and right to become a hamatsa initiate is inherited and is one of the most highly regarded of all tseyka performances. Willie Seaweed created this mask during the time when traditional tseyka dances were banned by the Canadian government. His art, however, continued to flourish, and the dance tradition carried on. Masks such as this crooked beak are still made and used in dances by contemporary Kwakwaka'wakw artists and inheritors of this privilege.