Corey Bulpitt Haida Fungus Man Drum

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Raven lived alone in a watery darkness where time was not linear, creating supernatural beings to keep him company. Eventually, two bodies of land arose, and Raven brought light to the world by placing the sun, moon, and stars into the sky. One day, while combing a beach for food, he discovered tiny creatures hiding inside a cockle shell. He gently coaxed them out and established them in villages across the islands and mainland of the Pacific Northwest coast; these were the very first human beings.

Before long, the human women asked Raven to acquire sexual organs for them so they could experience pleasure and raise families. Raven became determined to set out for the edge of the world—to House Island, also known as the Island of Women—to find the female element. The journey required traveling through incredibly treacherous waters in a canoe, where Raven would use a spear to capture the organs. He made numerous attempts, but every helmsman he chose, including Snowbird and Blue Jay, was overcome by the overwhelming power of female sexuality and veered off course. Finally, Raven chose Fungus Man. Unfazed by the intense spiritual forces, Fungus Man successfully guided the canoe to the island. There, Raven speared chitons, which transformed into female genitalia when gifted to the women, bringing male and female together for the first time.

In Haida Gwaii, Fungus Man is recognized as a forest spirit—of a bracket fungus that grows on the sides of trees, featuring growth rings that closely resemble the cockle shells of humanity's birth. Believed to possess profound supernatural powers, this fungus is traditionally used by shamans in healing ceremonies. According to tradition, Raven brought Fungus Man to life by painting a face onto the bark, transforming him into a creature that is human in form yet tethered to the forest. This mythology is beautifully captured in Corey Bulpitt’s depiction of Fungus Man featuring a round head with distinct growth rings and eyes without pupils that stare directly at the viewer, balancing a human, almost infant-like body with a cap-like face.

This artistic lineage stretches back generations. Charles Edenshaw , Corey's great granfather created three historic argillite platters containing the first known visual depictions of this story. In contrast to Bulpitt's serene rendition, Edenshaw’s figures are deeply distraught, carved with sharp teeth and adult bodies. On two of the platters, the figures have dropped their paddles in overwhelming panic. Beneath their canoes, Edenshaw carved sea monsters to represent the reach of female sexual power acting upon Raven and Fungus Man as they neared the origin of the world. Throughout these classical representations, the sexual allusions are vivid: Raven’s upward-angled spear serves as a phallic symbol, Fungus Man’s raised arms capture a moment of ecstatic vulnerability, and a female spirit rests in the waters below, shaped distinctly like a labia.