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Utetmun
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The print is a part of a series (1)-(24) Edition 22/24 Utetmun refers to an old story about the return of our traditional healers and is the story of the spiritual return. The small window represents a view into a traditional dwelling, and the forms represent people calling to the healers to come home. The traditional design in this image represents a spiritual eye and gathering place, combined to give a sense of looking through time. The landscape represents the Kuskokwim Mountains (my homeland). The figures holding the piece of cloth are the spirits of the Angalkuq (shaman), returning to heal the people and the lands. The red piece of cloth is a gift to the artist from an Eagle Dancer, once used during an extremely physical and spiritual ceremony known as the Sun Dance. (The Eagle Dancer is the lead dancer who must remain pierced and tied to a pole for the entire duration of the ceremony. While other dancers are similarly pierced and tear away from the pole the same day, the Eagle Dancer is the first to be pierced and must remain in the circle for several days, making sure other Sun Dancers stay within the tradition. It is one of the highest honors to be the Eagle Dancer, as they endure more pain than all other dancers for the entirety of the ceremony. Their name CANNOT be revealed, as it would damage the medicine.) The red cloth honors the sacrifice of healers for the land and for the people. The outside parts of the shaman are burned to represent what other religions have done to our traditional healers and to the elders of my grandparents' generation (many elders were burned with candles to force conversion into Christianity). The red in the shaman represents the giving of blood by our healers to restore the blood taken from both the land and its people. Phillip John Charette