kwakwaka’wakw artist, Eagle Mask closed, late 19th c., from Alert Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada,
cedar wood, feathers, sinew, cord, bird skin, hide, plant fibers, cotton, iron, pigments,37 x 57 x 49 cm (American Museum of Natural History)

Picture this
A man standing in a large space, men, women and children  watching him. Bold black and white drawings everywhere. He stands before a large fire wearing a heavy eagle mask shown above and a long cedar bark costume on his body.
He begins to dance, the firelight flickers and the feathers rustle as he moves about the room in front of hundreds of people. Now, imagine him pulling the string that opens the mask. The eagle is transformed into something else entirely. That must have been powerful and dramatic moment!

Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Eagle Mask open, late 19th c., from Alert Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada,
cedar wood, feathers, sinew, cord, bird skin, hide, plant fibers, cotton, iron, pigments,37 x 57 x 49 cm (American Museum of Natural History)

Transformation masks, like those belonging to the Kwakwaka’wakw (pronounced Kwak-wak-ah-wak, a Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous people) they are worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status, in part by giving away gifts to those in attendance.

Transformation masks like these manifest transformation, usually an animal changing into a mythical being or one animal becoming another. Masks are worn by dancers during ceremonies, they pull strings to open and move the mask—in effect, animating it. In the Eagle mask shown above from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History, you can see the wooden frame and netting that held the mask on the dancer’s head.

When the cords are pulled, the eagle’s face and beak split down the center, and the bottom of the beak opens downwards, giving the impression of a bird spreading its wings . Transformed, the mask reveals the face of an ancestor.