yaxwamł (Mask)

Portrait of a white man. Or, may represent a Nuu-chah-nulth version of a Kwagiulh Bak!was, chief of drowned spirits (P. Macnair, 1975).

Mask with small circular eye holes, a long, hooked nose, high cheek bones, protruding eyebrows, and lips that form an oval shape. The eyebrows, base of nose and moustache are in black, the nose, cheekbones and mouth are red, and the remainder of the face is painted grey with mottled red and black on the chin, three lines of red on on side of the face, and two red lines on the other side of the face. Black moss has been nailed to the mask under the nose, to the sides of the mouth, to the sides of the cheeks, and at the top of the head.