ASMAT Bis Pole Seattle art the result of the innumerable

the result of the innumerable potlatch ceremonies held over many generations

the two hollowed wood pieces held together with natural fiber cord lashings

it seems to be hard to place in a normal person’s home

hollowing the inside

I was wiped out and barely remembered being driven up island to Tofino where my friend Steven motored us to the sliver of granite in the Pacific Ocean named Wickaninnish Island

ASMAT Bis Pole Seattle art the result of the innumerableAsmat Ancestor Pole, Bis or Bisj Pole, carved wood, pigment, organic material, 14 ft H The Asmat honored their dead with feasts and rituals, which both commemorated the deceased and reminded the living to avenge their deaths. The towering Asmat "bis" poles were made for these funeral feasts. The basic form of the bis is an openwork pole incorporating several ancestor figures and a winglike projection that represents the pole's phallus. In Asmat