self-portrait

today i’m working on a self-portrait mask that will be nested in the cockpit of a qayaq frame design–part of a public art window gallery installation i’m collaborating on with fellow alaska native artist, sean gallagher. for me, this project is an exploration of identity and place. the qayaq design element will represent a lifeboat moving us through the waves of time and space expressed in the concentric circle motif, a focus of the installation. cradled in the cockpit of the two qayaqs will be self-portrait masks, one carved by sean and one sculpted by me. the qayaqs in the design symbolically carry us, our cultures, and our stories from here to there and there to here.