Giinaquq Like a Face

Masks are an ancient tradition of the Alutiiq people on the southern coast of Alaska. Alutiiq artists carved the masks from wood or bark into images of ancestors, animal spirits, and other mythological forces; these extraordinary creations have been an essential tool for communicating with the spirit world and have played an important role in dances and hunting festivities for centuries".Giinaquq – Like a Face" presents thirty-three full-color images of these fantastic and eye-catching masks, which have been preserved for more than a century as part of the Pinart Collection in a small French museum.

These masks, collected in 1871 by a young French scholar of indigenous cultures, are presented for the first time in their complete cultural context, celebrating the rich history of the Alutiiq people and their artistic traditions. In addition to the stunning photographs, "Giinaquq – Like a Face" includes an informative text in three languages – English, Alutiiq, and French – in order to provide a cross-cultural understanding of the masks' traditional meaning and use.

This captivating and revealing book will be an essential resource for anyone interested in indigenous art and culture.


Contents:

Invocation
Essence by Doug Inga
Foreword by Will Anderson
Foreword by Frederic Cuvillier & Claude Allan
Quyanaa – We Thank You

Chapter One: Giinaquq-Like a Face
by Sven D. Haakanson Jr. and Amy F. Steffian

Chapter Two: The Atypical History of Collector Alphonse Pinart (1852-1911) and the Sugpiaq Masks of Boulogne-sur-Mer in France
by Anne-Claire Laronde

Chapter Three: Historical Ethnography of Nineteenth-Century Kodiak Villages
by Gordon L. Pullar

Chapter Four: Sugpiaq Masks from the Kodiak Archipelago
by Sven D. Haakanson Jr. and Amy F. Steffian

Chapter Five: From the Artist's Point of View
by Perry Eaton

Appendix
Mask Songs
Translated and transcribed by Jeff Leer and Sven D. Haakanson Jr. with assistance from Sugpiaq Elders Nick Alokli, Mary Haakanson, and Florence Pestrikoff
Notes
References
Index
About the Editors