Spirit Mask depicting Fox by Ilgvar Daga

Regular price $1,200.00 Sale

Spirit Mask depicting Fox, c. 1990
by Ilgvar Daga, Latvian
red cedar, pigment, feathers
40" high x 12.5" wide x 3" deep

This panel depicts an Arctic Fox with its Inua spirit. Arctic foxes are known for their white winter coats, but they also have a "blue" or a dark phase, becoming darker in summer. As described below, the masked dancer is transforming into their Inua (or spiritual state) and calling upon Arctic Fox to help ensure bounty and survival for their people.

The Yup’ik and Inupiaq masks of arctic Alaska are made of wood, painted with natural pigments, and sometimes decorated with feathers. Masks varied in size from small three-inch finger masks to ten-kilo masks carried by several people. Masks were often made in pairs, and after ceremony masks normally discarded or destroyed. Only the most important masks made and worn by the ritual specialist sometimes reused.

Yup’ik masks were danced in the middle of winter. A host village would send out messengers to other villages that the ceremony was to begin or start. The host village would always perform. Occasionally the invited village would also immediately reciprocate.

Yup'ik Mask Dance Ceremony

When a Sharman had conceived an idea for a mask and composed a song for it he would then commission a carver to make a mask. The song and dance practiced while the mask was being carved. The song, dance, and mask that the Sharman created were a form of communication. The masked dance was a way of honoring spirits and beseeching them to ensure the presence of bounty. Many of the masks have animal elements that represent spirits summoned, nature elements, or animals that will help ensure the people's survival. Masks, songs, and dance ceremonies are an essential part of Agayu spiritual beliefs.

Social Aspects of Yup’ik Masks

Making masks and participating in performances was also important for forging social bonds. It bought together distant communities helping solidify relationships. Reciprocal dances left different villages indebted to repay the favor. The performances were also a time of transmitting knowledge of the spirit world to the younger generation. Spirit beings were not only people, but also animals, and elements of the environment, and sometimes combinations of both. It was an opportunity for shaman and village chiefs to exchange knowledge. During ceremonies, masks transformed the individual wearing it into that spirit. Masks were not worn to pretend to be a spirit but so the dancer could become that spirit. That spirit would then ensure plentiful game in spring. This element of transformation is often reflected in the appearance of the masks themselves. Many masks combine animal, spirit and human elements.

Latvian born artist Ilgvar Daga lives and works in the Seattle area of Washington State. His fascination with the carvings of the Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska Arctic led him to interpret the works through carvings in red cedar, yellow cedar, and alder.

Ilgvar created work though out the 1990's but made a pivot to pursue a second passion and started Iggy’s Alive & Cultured, a fermentation house founded in 2012 on Bainbridge Island in Washington State.

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