Artists
Hunt, Alan
Kingfisher, 2020
Courtesy: Fazakas Gallery; (c) Alan Hunt; Foto: Ophelia Zhao
Alan Hunt’s practice is dedicated to promoting the Kwakwaka’wakw culture, one of the Indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Hunt carves in both Kwakwaka’wakw and Tlingit styles, recognizable by the deep cuts in the wood, and minimal use of paint colors to accentuate. The masks are used to depict mythological creatures, animals, natural forces, and other people, and play an important role in portraying the characters that are central to the Kwakwaka’wakw potlatch ceremonies. These ceremonies celebrate the rituals of naming, inaugurating a new chief, and honoring a death or marriage. Some masks are meant for transformation purposes, where the performer transforms into an animal or a mythical creature. These masks usually show an animal face, which the performer can open by pulling a string to reveal a human face carved in wood to symbolize the wearer’s transition from the natural world to a supernatural realm.
The primary way through which the craft of Kwakwaka’wakw carving is taught is through being an apprentice to more experienced experts, in the case of Hunt, he was an apprentice under the late Hereditary Chief, Indigenous rights activist, and carver, Beau Dick, Wayne Alfred, Marcus Alfred, and Bruce Alfred from whom he mastered the craft.
Hunt worked closely with Beau Dick on the creation of his exhibition for documenta 14 (2017). A few months before the opening, Dick passed away, after which Hunt was asked to “perform” his artistic work during documenta. Together with Canadian curator LaTiesha Fazakas, he greeted the masks in Athens and Kassel and performed a blessing spell on them.
The masks are made from a combination of different materials including red cedar, acrylic, cedar bark, feathers, down, cotton fabric, or cuffs that were readily available in the Indigenous Kwakwaka’wakw regions. Hunt is known for using new methods and contemporary colors that he brings together with traditional craft. By merging these two worlds, he connects with his matrilineal bloodline, bridging ancestral ways and the present. The masks on display depict mythical stories and animal spirits, such as the brightly colored kingfishers, with large heads and long, sharp, pointed beaks, or the myth of the Pookmis spirit, an extraterrestrial sea being, and Gitsalis, who magically teleported from one place to another with the large supernatural Mugamtl (Moogums) mask. The intriguing facial expressions of the masks demand our attention and draw us to a place of imagination where the fantastic creatures exist.
Text: Sarie Nijboer; englische Übersetzung: Johanna Schindler
Alan Hunt’s practice is dedicated to promoting the Kwakwaka’wakw culture, one of the Indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Hunt carves in both Kwakwaka’wakw and Tlingit styles, recognizable by the deep cuts in the wood, and minimal use of paint colors to accentuate. The masks are used to depict mythological creatures, animals, natural forces, and other people, and play an important role in portraying the characters that are central to the Kwakwaka’wakw potlatch ceremonies. These ceremonies celebrate the rituals of naming, inaugurating a new chief, and honoring a death or marriage. Some masks are meant for transformation purposes, where the performer transforms into an animal or a mythical creature. These masks usually show an animal face, which the performer can open by pulling a string to reveal a human face carved in wood to symbolize the wearer’s transition from the natural world to a supernatural realm.
The primary way through which the craft of Kwakwaka’wakw carving is taught is through being an apprentice to more experienced experts, in the case of Hunt, he was an apprentice under the late Hereditary Chief, Indigenous rights activist, and carver, Beau Dick, Wayne Alfred, Marcus Alfred, and Bruce Alfred from whom he mastered the craft.
Hunt worked closely with Beau Dick on the creation of his exhibition for documenta 14 (2017). A few months before the opening, Dick passed away, after which Hunt was asked to “perform” his artistic work during documenta. Together with Canadian curator LaTiesha Fazakas, he greeted the masks in Athens and Kassel and performed a blessing spell on them.
The masks are made from a combination of different materials including red cedar, acrylic, cedar bark, feathers, down, cotton fabric, or cuffs that were readily available in the Indigenous Kwakwaka’wakw regions. Hunt is known for using new methods and contemporary colors that he brings together with traditional craft. By merging these two worlds, he connects with his matrilineal bloodline, bridging ancestral ways and the present. The masks on display depict mythical stories and animal spirits, such as the brightly colored kingfishers, with large heads and long, sharp, pointed beaks, or the myth of the Pookmis spirit, an extraterrestrial sea being, and Gitsalis, who magically teleported from one place to another with the large supernatural Mugamtl (Moogums) mask. The intriguing facial expressions of the masks demand our attention and draw us to a place of imagination where the fantastic creatures exist.
Text: Sarie Nijboer; englische Übersetzung: Johanna Schindler