The British Museum presents 1st exhibition of Pacific Northwest Coast art



The British Museum presents the first exhibition focusing on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Northwest Coast Peoples inhabit the mountainous fjords, lush islands and temperate forests that stretch along the coastline from Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state. They have created some of the most extraordinary carving and weaving traditions in North America.

On display are striking masks depicting ancestral stories and intricate form-line narrations of histories and lineages, demonstrating how people both today and in the past enshrine their conceptions of the world within objects that create their material heritage.

The second part of the show features contemporary art and regalia from the Northwest Coast collections as testament to the innovative practices and economic adaptation of these thriving communities following the arrival of Europeans in the 18th Century.

Image: Female mask with labret, c.1820-1830, Carved alder wood mask (© The Trustees of the British Museum)