Haida art. Authentic 12" high Haida portrait mask hand carved and painted by Corey Bulpitt.
'Portrait masks can represent supernatural beings, or be representational carvings of particular people.
I drew my inspiration on this piece from a few old masks which I admire, possibly representing warriors or secret society members.
Sometimes these masks would be made as realistic portraits which were used in secret society dances sometimes used to fool the viewer into thinking the masked person was the real person during a certain performance.
Spirit masks were made of people who were deceased and these masks would be burned after a certain ceremony.
Other similar masks were used by shaman and represented spiritual helpers, sometimes powerful dead warriors which assisted the shaman in various realms fighting evil and witchcraft used against someone.' Corey Bulpitt
