Muro and Feinman 2022_The Mortuary and Commemorative Poles from Skidegate (Beyond Death_Field Museum Exhibit Catalogue_BAR Publishing) (original) (raw)

Muro and Feinman 2022_The Mortuary and Commemorative Poles from Skidegate (Beyond Death_Field Museum Exhibit Catalogue_BAR Publishing)

Skidegate, along with other Haida Gwaii communities, is recognized by its cultural traditions, art, language, and, particularly, totem poles. Monumental, elegant, and stylized, totem poles are made of massive trunks of red cedar that are carved and subsequently painted with intricate designs and motifs. Whereas the practice of creating ceremonial carvings in wood is relatively widespread among North American Indigenous groups, the level of perfection, monumentality, and stylization of the Northwest Coast poles is particularly distinctive.