ASMAT Bis Pole Seattle art Amsterdam 1980s

Amsterdam 1980s

the result of the innumerable potlatch ceremonies held over many generations

I was wiped out and barely remembered being driven up island to Tofino where my friend Steven motored us to the sliver of granite in the Pacific Ocean named Wickaninnish Island

Abelam people woven fibers and natural pigments 25 in H

hollowing the inside

ASMAT Bis Pole Seattle art Amsterdam 1980sAsmat Ancestor Pole, Bis or Bisj Pole, carved wood, pigment, organic material, 14 ft H The Asmat honored their dead with feasts and rituals, which both commemorated the deceased and reminded the living to avenge their deaths. The towering Asmat "bis" poles were made for these funeral feasts. The basic form of the bis is an openwork pole incorporating several ancestor figures and a winglike projection that represents the pole's phallus. In Asmat