The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

This impressive book results from the timely, collaborative work of Bill
McLennan, projects manager and curator for the UBC Museum of
Anthropology, and Karen Duffek, writer and curator with an interest in
Northwest Coast art and representation. Specifically, the book stems
from the Image Recovery Project begun by McLennan in 1980. McLennan’s
impulse to photograph a 19th-century Northwest Coast painted chest led
to his discovery that infrared film revealed what the oil and soot of
many years had concealed. From the investigation of a simple chest was
born a project whose goal was to develop a database of infrared
photographs of historical Northwest Coast paintings. Karen Duffek’s
detective work underlies a text that links the painted images to
communities, past eras, and individual artists.

As always, time was the antagonist. Current researchers sought to
understand and celebrate past achievements. Despite the difficulties of
depopulation and the suppression of Native cultures, the surviving
artifacts—boxes, chests, drums, and many other items—spoke
eloquently. The Transforming Image has scores of photographs, many in
color. The masks are particularly striking. There are also carved stamps
used to apply crest images to the faces of high-ranking persons,
deerskin hangings, and many other artifacts. Duffek points to the
generations of carvers whose images have forged a living tradition and a
base for current carvers. A pleasant style, extensive research, and fine
photography combine to make The Transforming Image a handsome book and a
valuable study.