Native Life Art Along Pacific Northwest Coast

Listening to Our Ancestors showcases the rich cultural history and artwork of native communities in the Pacific Northwest through never-before-published artifacts from the museum's Northwest Coast collections. Totem poles, painted housefronts, masks, dance regalia, feast bowls, and elaborately decorated boxes created by the native people of the North Pacific Coast are celebrated as masterpieces of art, sophisticated in conception and execution, and rich with symbolism.

The book features community self-portraits of cultural figures from eleven Northwest Coast nations, discussing how these masterpieces, along with everyday tools and utensils from the museum's collections, connect them with their ancestors who crafted and utilized these beautiful objects. Kwakwaka'wakw Chief Robert Joseph and community curators provide insights on the contrast between anthropologists' and art historians' approach to these treasures and the perspective of Native people on their cultural legacy.

Furthermore, Mary Jane Lenz examines the Northwest as a meeting point of native and non-native worlds in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when many of these works were acquired, and the present day. Through captivating images and insights from community members, Listening to Our Ancestors encourages readers to appreciate Northwest Coast art with the same spirit as its native inheritors.

This book serves as the official companion to the exhibition debut at the National Museum of the American Indian in November 2005.

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