Like A Face

Giinaquq : Like A Face
Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago
Featuring the collection of Château-Musée of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

Giinaquq
The Alutiiq word for mask - giinaquq - means “like a face, but not really.” This term reflects the mystical place that carved faces held in Alutiiq culture. Carefully crafted and ornately decorated masks were both works of art and powerful religious objects. Made to share history and represent the spirit world, their use in ceremonies allowed Alutiiq people to communicate with the spirits that controlled life. To the Alutiiq people, masks are - agayuullqutaq- “something to hold sacred.”

A 19th Century Alutiiq Mask	Alutiiq Masks Alutiiq dancers wore masks at winter festivals to act out stories, honor the deeds of ancestors, and praise the spirit world. Giving thanks to an animal’s inner person - or sua - helped to insure a future supply of game and many masked performances were dedicated to this task. Following such ceremonies, Alutiiqs destroyed or hid their masks to protect people from their power.
Alphonse Pinart	The Collector French anthropologist Alphonse Pinart spent his life studying native peoples and languages. Financed by his family’s fortune, he sailed to Alaska in 1871. In November, Pinart kayaked from the Aleutians to Kodiak, where he spent six months visiting Alutiiq villages, recording stories, and collecting objects. Seventy-eight ceremonial masks were among his most important acquisitions.
Castle Museum, Boulogne-sur-Mer	The Caretaker Pinart returned to France and gave his collections to the Château-Musée of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where most remain today. A small number of the masks are also cared for by the Musée du quai Branly in Paris.
Masks in storage at the Chateau-Musee	The Collection Pinart’s collection contains the largest set of traditionally crafted Alutiiq ceremonial masks in the world. These pieces represent generations of spiritual and artistic knowledge, passed down from carver to carver and recorded in wood. Some of the masks retain their original Alutiiq names and songs.
The Like A Face Exhibit in Kodiak	The Exhibition In 2008, the Alutiiq Museum and the Château-Musée partnered to create an exhibition of 34 masks from Pinart's Kodiak collection. The masks traveled to Alaska for nine months, visiting Kodiak and then Anchorage. The following pages present an online version of the award-winning exhibition. We extend our most sincere thanks to the City of Boulogne-sur- Mer and the Château-Musée for allowing the masks to travel to Alaska.
Zachary McGuire paints his mask.	Modern Exploration By learning from these masks, Alutiiqs today are creating new artwork and songs, and revitalizing their culture. In 2006, Alutiiq artists visited the collection in France. Making Faces, an on line exhibit, and Two Journeys, an illustrated book, chronicle their discoveries. In 2008, Alaskan teens studied the Pinart collection and made their own masks. Future Masters, an on line exhibit, examines their journey.

A note about mask names and songs:
Each mask in this exhibition has an Alutiiq name. Pinart recorded the underlined Alutiiq names (e.g., Payulik). Contemporary Alutiiq speakers developed the other names to help describe the masks. Some masks also have an associated song, translated by contemporary Alutiiq speakers from Pinart’s notes.

THE MASKS

Page 1

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	Temciyusqaq Skeptical One 988-2-141
	Igyuyrtulik Searcher 988-2-159
	Nayurta Watchman 988-2-153
	*Nukallpiaq* Man 988-2-155
	*Qup’arngasqamek Qanlek* Broken Mouth 988-2-161
	Tupasqaq Surprised One 988-2-146
	Cupuwasqaq Blowing One 988-2-148

Page 2

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	Nakllegnasqaq Pitiful One 988-2-158
	Ulluwatusqaq Big Cheeks 988-2-164
	*Qanrilgnuq* Mouthless One 988-2-173
	Aitauwasqaq Open Mouth One 988-2-145
	Angun Qiaculngusqaq Old Man Who Feels Like Crying 988-2-166
	Englaryuumasqaq Grinning One 988-2-156
	Lurtusqaq Wide One 988-2-160

Page 3

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	*Akagngasqamek Giinalek* Round Faced One 988-2-144
	Kukumya’arngasqaq Whistler 988-2-151
	Spirit Taker 988-2-187
	Nakllegnaq Pitiful One 988-2-183
	Tamallkuk Married Couple 988-2-176
	*Akrillria* Voyager 988-2-205
	*Ashigik* Fool / Lucky One 988-2-202 I come my helper spirit. The one from the Universe doesn’t know, wants to take you. That one over there, that one, even if he comes to me, those over there in the smoke, he wants them.

Page 4

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	Nalylgalan One Who Doesn’t Know 988-2-204 I came. I came. Who is that? Lift it up. Where I came from, I came. So there. When I entered the men’s house, my mask kept leaving me.
	Ingillagayak Weatherman 988-2-198 From where now my helper is coming, he is entering in on us our helper. He came in on us. My helper should we twirl this one? Down (out) there in the tide flats, in the tide flat smoke my helper spirit. Watch me, somewhere, watch me I will catch the game over there.
	Kuyauq Big Nosed One / Thankful Person 988-2-175 Naryam mask, below the volcano turned to face it. From the Universe I come down without skin. This one coat put it on. I thought somebody grabbed me.
	Giinasinaq Big Face 988-2-165
	*Unnuyayuk* Night Traveler 988-2-195 Why is it my helper spirit, why is it you are apprehensive of me on the seal rocks? I will bring you game to be caught. I went through the inside of the Universe, my helper, that one made me afraid. I went down where they are motioning.
	Angun Old Man 988-2-168 Where is my helper? Will I find him down there? Who should I take the catch to?
	Payulik Bringer of Food 988-2-169 My helper don’t be afraid down there. I am going up to the smoke of the seal rocks. I am taking you down there.

Page 5

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	Agayuq Mask / Praying 988-2-200 I am looking now. Where? On the tide flats. I am looking now. Where? In the smoke. My helper spirit should I take you to the place of waiting? Should I take you to the game that will be caught? Should I take you to the ones that are dead?
	*Unartuliq* Protector / Talisman 988-2-199 Why helper was he pushing down there? I was not pushing. He is taking you North to the Universe’s end. From where? This way. Go inside the two are playing. Even if you play music, answer me and go check on it.
	Putumasqaq Pouting One 988-2-162
	Nakirnalik Snub-Nosed One 988-2-171 Whenever I descend I want to go down into the ocean’s water. Why is that one, my helper, crying down there? My mask is trembling for the game that will be caught.
	Chumliiq First One 988-2-172 My house up there, in the Universe up there, you don’t know it. Is it behind the sun? Is it behind the one up above? My helper, I am approaching you from up above. I keep trying to come. My helper, that one’s lands doesn’t need performers.
	*Umyaaqlluku Suumacillra* Remembering How They Lived 988-2-209
Bird's Bowl	*Saqullkanam Alutaa* Bird’s Bowl 988-2-211

	Qasgiq - Ceremonial House Alutiiqs held festivals in a community house – or qasgiq, a large single-roomed structure built and maintained by a wealthy family. Here men met to discuss politics, repair tools, and prepare for war. In the winter, this building became a ceremonial center where people of all ages gathered to celebrate the events of the year and give thanks to animal spirits with singing, dancing, and feasting. In preparation for festivals, the qasgiq was elaborately decorated with hunting gear and animal skins. Hosts suspended paddles, harpoons, sea otter pelts, and even kayaks from the ceiling. Guests arrived in their finest clothing and were seated according to their social position along the walls. Men sat on earthen benches while women and children rested on the floor.
	Lliileq - Dance Moving to the rhythmic beat of skin drums, men acted out stories and women danced in praise of ancestors. As masked dancers appeared, the audience began to sway and an assistant rocked the gear hanging from the ceiling. The first dancers were men who enacted scenes from recent hunts. Gradually the dances progressed back in time, remembering the deeds of great ancestors and summoning spirits. New dancers appeared with powerful masks, showing creatures half-human, half-bird. These faces represented the arrival of these spirits to the festival, and their awareness of the human world.
	Atuun - Song With songs, participants in winter festivals moved from the everyday world into a supernatural realm. Singing invited spirits to the gathering and appealed to them for aid. Songs were also sung to honor ancestors. A forbearer might be memorialized with a mask and a specially written tune. Masks and songs were also paired to tell stories - to remember a great hunt, to recount a battle, or to share a family legend.

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DOWNLOADS & LINKS

PRINTED MATERIALS:
Like A Face Exhibition Brochure	Like A Face Rack Card
Like A Face Press Kit	Like A Face Edition Newsletter
ON LINE ARTICLES:
Opening - Kodiak Daily Mirror	Exhibition Report - KTUU
BLOGS:
Registrar's Blog - Château-Musée	Opening - AK Humanities Forum Blog
FOR TEACHERS:
High School Art Lesson - by Bonnie Dillard	Upper Elementary / Middle School History Lesson by Balika Haakanson
POD CAST:
Giinaquq: Like A Face Key Note Address to the Alaska Historical Society by Sven Haakanson, Jr.

Publications

Exhibition Guide Chronicles Exploration

Museum collections are time capsules; rare windows into the past. Collectors recognize the value of the artifacts they preserve, but they can never fully understand how these objects will benefit the future. Collecting is both an act of scholarship and of unforeseeable generosity. This is a message that shines through Two Journeys : A Companion to the Giinaquq – Like A Face Exhibition.

This 92 page hardback volume features stunning photographs of the thirty-five artifacts in the Giinaquq show, but it is much more than a catalog of pretty pictures. Woven through the illustrations are stories of exploration – the history of Alphonse Pinart’s life and Alaskan travels, a moving description of the journeys Alutiiq artists have undertaken to rediscover their ancestor’s work, and a summary of patient efforts to share the collection in an Alaskan exhibition. The title of the volume refers to these journeys – Pinart’s 1871 trip to Alaska and the 2005 trip of Alutiiq artists to France.

Pinart’s gift to the Alutiiq people is clear in the words of artists who visited the masks. Featured throughout the text they express joy, reverence, and amazement. To help the exploration of this remarkable collection continue, the book includes artifact photographs from different angles, object dimensions, information on raw materials, and Alutiiq names. The presentation brings the masks to life, providing a richer sense of the objects and their great value to Alutiiqs today. Copies of Two Journeys are available through the Alutiiq Museum Store for $29.99.

Collection Catalog In Production

The Giinaquq: Like A Face exhibition may be gone, but the Alutiiq Museum is still working to share the remarkable collection of Alutiiq masks it featured. A book, scheduled for publication in the spring of 2009, will bring French collector Alphonse Pinart’s entire assemblage of Kodiak Alutiiq masks to print. With help from the University of Alaska Press, the Alutiiq Museum will reunite images of 78 masks stored in two French museums – the Château-Musée of Boulogne-sur-Mer and the Musée du quai Branly of Paris – in a beautifully designed collection catalog.

“The exhibition featured less than half of the Alutiiq masks Pinart took back to France,” explains Alutiiq Museum Executive Director Sven Haakanson, Jr. “This catalog will provide a comprehensive look at all the masks Pinart collected, and tie his notes on ceremonial practices with the pieces. It’s a way for us to bring more of the pieces and their information home. ”

Published in both English and French, the book will include articles about the collection, its history, and its ties to the Alutiiq people, as well as recent translations of mask songs, dances, and stories recorded by Pinart. Contributors to the volume include Sven Haakanson, Jr., Amy Steffian, Anne-Claire Laronde, Gordon Pullar, Perry Eaton, Jeff Leer, Nick Alokli, Mary Haakanson, and Florence Pestrikoff. Koniag, Inc. and the Kodiak Island Housing Authority provided funding for the publication, which is currently in production. Preorders can be placed through Amazon.com or the University of Chicago Press.

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