Viewing totem poles
25/11/24 01:14
Part of the process of learning about a new place is observing art and listening to how that art has come to its places of display. Art often carries different meaning to different people. And it can often be a focus of disagreement and sometimes conflict. A clear example of art becoming the focal point of conflict are several statues depicting Civil War figures, especially some of the statues of leaders of the Confederacy. For some they represent the telling of the story of our nation’s history. For others they represent the glorification of the oppressive system of human slavery that continues to play out in racism and inequality in the United States. When cities have decided to remove statues, either for display in another location, or for disposal, there has been significant disagreement about those choices.
One of the things about which I have had to learn a great deal in our move to the Pacific Northwest are totem poles. The poles, generally carved from large cedar logs, often illustrate significant indigenous stories. But not all of the poles displayed in our region are authentic, and many were not even carved by indigenous artists. Art, like other aspects of culture evolves and changes with time and it can enhance appreciation and understanding to know some of the back story.
Prior to contact with Europeans, there was often conflict between tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The coastal Salish people, indigenous to the immediate area where we now live, had a highly developed culture that involved harvesting seafood, primarily Salmon, but also many other fish, shellfish, seaweed and kelp. They traded with other coastal tribes as well as engaging in trade with inland tribes on occasion. However, they also had conflict, especially with tribes from farther up the coast. North coast tribes not only paddled south to trade. They also came south to raid, plunder, and take slaves from smaller tribes such as the Lummi.
Although there was some culture of carving among Coast Salish tribes, the creation of poles was not part of their history in the same way as it was for more northern tribes prior to the 19th Century. Carving among Coast Salish people was primarily focused on the creation of canoes and the decoration of long houses.
Most of the totem poles displayed in our region come from much after European settlement. Because European explorers and settlers not only brought new ideas to the region, they also brought new threats to the indigenous cultures and people. Among those threats was the rampant spread of smallpox. Some coastal tribes experienced mortality rates from the epidemic that exceeded 70 percent of the total population. Some traditional arts were lost through the process of illness and cultural realignment. Traditional arts were initially suppressed as signs of what the settlers labeled “savage.”
As the United States emerged from the Great Depression in the 1930s, many totem poles were commissioned, carved, and erected in parks and other public places to encourage tourists to come and visit. Sometimes these poles were not carved by indigenous people, but carved by settlers and others in imitation of native art. Poles were erected in parks, often in large numbers in many areas, without regard to the specific stories of the tribes on whose traditional lands they were erected. For some indigenous people the erection of poles became signs of their status as conquered people. Art, vaguely in the style of their former northern enemies, was erected on their land without regard with their traditional stories and symbols.
Culture and art, however, are not static. For some Coast Salish people, carving became a way to express their culture and stories. Even though the creation of poles is an imported art, some native people have adopted the form and use the process of creating art as an expression of their unique stories in the contemporary world.
We have been honored to witness a few celebrations of local carving including the landing of traditional canoes and the dedication of a totem pole carved to journey up the salmon streams as part of a protest of dams that have had a detrimental effect on the number of salmon in the rivers and the sea. The pole was created by the Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers who have for more than 30 years now practiced what they call “totem pole diplomacy.” They carve poles that express indigenous concerns, load them on trailers, and transport them across the country as a way of educating the public on their concerns. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, they carved a pole and transported it to Shanksville, Pennsylvania as an expression of solidarity with the victims of the attack. In 2018, they carved an orca pole and transported it to the Miami Seaquarium to plead for the release of the captive whale Tokitae/Lolita. Poles have been carved to highlight the abuse that took place in boarding schools and to protest the negative impacts of fossil-fuel industries on Native lands.
Even though there carving of poles was not part of the pre-colonial culture of the Lummi people, poles have become important expression of indigenous culture and concern for Lummi carvers.
For us, who have lived many years in traditional Lakota lands in the Dakotas, there is a parallel with the quilt art of plains tribes. Quilting was not a traditional art prior to contact with Europeans. It only became a native art during the forced resettlement onto reservations when the buffalo were hunted to near extinction and missionaries came to teach the ways of the dominant culture to native people. With no more buffalo hides for traditional ceremonies and events, trade blankets and quilts became ways of expressing connection. In contemporary Lakota culture quilts with native designs are an important part of expressing grief and recognizing the lives of those who have died.
Art is always changing and growing and it can often bear different meanings for different people.
Now when we look at the poles in various places in our region we are eager to learn more of the stories that the poles represent and understand more deeply how those stories continue to shape the inheritors of a very complex history.
One of the things about which I have had to learn a great deal in our move to the Pacific Northwest are totem poles. The poles, generally carved from large cedar logs, often illustrate significant indigenous stories. But not all of the poles displayed in our region are authentic, and many were not even carved by indigenous artists. Art, like other aspects of culture evolves and changes with time and it can enhance appreciation and understanding to know some of the back story.
Prior to contact with Europeans, there was often conflict between tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The coastal Salish people, indigenous to the immediate area where we now live, had a highly developed culture that involved harvesting seafood, primarily Salmon, but also many other fish, shellfish, seaweed and kelp. They traded with other coastal tribes as well as engaging in trade with inland tribes on occasion. However, they also had conflict, especially with tribes from farther up the coast. North coast tribes not only paddled south to trade. They also came south to raid, plunder, and take slaves from smaller tribes such as the Lummi.
Although there was some culture of carving among Coast Salish tribes, the creation of poles was not part of their history in the same way as it was for more northern tribes prior to the 19th Century. Carving among Coast Salish people was primarily focused on the creation of canoes and the decoration of long houses.
Most of the totem poles displayed in our region come from much after European settlement. Because European explorers and settlers not only brought new ideas to the region, they also brought new threats to the indigenous cultures and people. Among those threats was the rampant spread of smallpox. Some coastal tribes experienced mortality rates from the epidemic that exceeded 70 percent of the total population. Some traditional arts were lost through the process of illness and cultural realignment. Traditional arts were initially suppressed as signs of what the settlers labeled “savage.”
As the United States emerged from the Great Depression in the 1930s, many totem poles were commissioned, carved, and erected in parks and other public places to encourage tourists to come and visit. Sometimes these poles were not carved by indigenous people, but carved by settlers and others in imitation of native art. Poles were erected in parks, often in large numbers in many areas, without regard to the specific stories of the tribes on whose traditional lands they were erected. For some indigenous people the erection of poles became signs of their status as conquered people. Art, vaguely in the style of their former northern enemies, was erected on their land without regard with their traditional stories and symbols.
Culture and art, however, are not static. For some Coast Salish people, carving became a way to express their culture and stories. Even though the creation of poles is an imported art, some native people have adopted the form and use the process of creating art as an expression of their unique stories in the contemporary world.
We have been honored to witness a few celebrations of local carving including the landing of traditional canoes and the dedication of a totem pole carved to journey up the salmon streams as part of a protest of dams that have had a detrimental effect on the number of salmon in the rivers and the sea. The pole was created by the Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers who have for more than 30 years now practiced what they call “totem pole diplomacy.” They carve poles that express indigenous concerns, load them on trailers, and transport them across the country as a way of educating the public on their concerns. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, they carved a pole and transported it to Shanksville, Pennsylvania as an expression of solidarity with the victims of the attack. In 2018, they carved an orca pole and transported it to the Miami Seaquarium to plead for the release of the captive whale Tokitae/Lolita. Poles have been carved to highlight the abuse that took place in boarding schools and to protest the negative impacts of fossil-fuel industries on Native lands.
Even though there carving of poles was not part of the pre-colonial culture of the Lummi people, poles have become important expression of indigenous culture and concern for Lummi carvers.
For us, who have lived many years in traditional Lakota lands in the Dakotas, there is a parallel with the quilt art of plains tribes. Quilting was not a traditional art prior to contact with Europeans. It only became a native art during the forced resettlement onto reservations when the buffalo were hunted to near extinction and missionaries came to teach the ways of the dominant culture to native people. With no more buffalo hides for traditional ceremonies and events, trade blankets and quilts became ways of expressing connection. In contemporary Lakota culture quilts with native designs are an important part of expressing grief and recognizing the lives of those who have died.
Art is always changing and growing and it can often bear different meanings for different people.
Now when we look at the poles in various places in our region we are eager to learn more of the stories that the poles represent and understand more deeply how those stories continue to shape the inheritors of a very complex history.
