The Artistic Significance of Recent Polls Raised by the First Nations of Haida-Gwaii (Essay Sample)

THE ARTISTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF RECENT POLES RAISED BY THE FIRST NATIONS OF HAIDA-GWAII
HaidaGwaii means ‘island of the people’ in haida language. It is a 155 mile long torch fashionedarchipelgo which lies 80km west of the British Colombia North Coast and 50 km southern tip of Alaska. HaidaGwaii was formerly and commonly known as Queen Charlotte Islands, the home to the first Haida nations. It was reverted back to HaidaGwaii in 2010.
The poles raised by the first nations of HaidaGwaii are also acknowledged to as totem poles. Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved on poles, posts or pillars with signs or figures made from large trees. The poles are normally curved from highly rot resistant trunks popularly known as giant cedar or western red cedar.1 Barbeau an anthropologist considered the poles a post contact phenomenon enabled by the introduction of metal tools.2 This was refuted by recent researchers though his information forms a base for more research to be done.
A researcher Eddy Malin proposed totem poles progressed from house posts, funeral containers and memorial markers into signs of clan and family wealth and esteem. The haida people he argues of the island of HaidaGwaii originated the curving of the poles before it spread.3
The poles made in Haida –Gwaii had magnificent forms, intricate patterning and sheer monumental dimension, height and girth of the logs used. These aspects making them archive an artistic significance. The poles had different styles and designs reflecting the rich diversity of the first nation’s history and cultures that fashioned them. Most of the totem poles stand between 3metres and 20 meters in height. Most long houses carved with human or animal forms hold up the main beams of the building. There are different types of poles such as the house poles, mortuary poles, commemorative poles and shame poles (which today are erected to exemplify political grievances or mishandling)1
In matters style, there are mostly the house posts and the single stand alone posts. The house posts habitually appear on the interiors of long houses. The haida poles mostly have complex designs.3with manyintertwined, space -filling figures and detailed surface decorations. This is in comparison to the Tlingit and Tsimshianpoles.
The haida poles are very significant since the haida carvers are known to be the best with incontestable carving skills. This is the more reason as to why most totem poles found in most museums are of Haida origin.
Curved figures on crests remind viewers of the stories of how ancestral beings bestowed certain rights and property on a family.Completed totem poles are usually created as part of Potlactch ceremonies(a feast with deep meaning to coastal first nations) and depict crest animals that are possessions of specific family lineages. Crest animals represent kinship,group membership and identity while the rest of the pole represents a family history. The poles were raised to represent family, clans and kingship structure, its dignity, its accomplishment, its prestige, its adventures, its stories, its rights and prerogatives. It was an emblem of a family and a reminder of its ancestry (Its genealogical record). It was also a signboard th...