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Kwakiutl Sisiutl Settee

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Specifications

Artists	Tony Hunt (Artist)
Date	1972
Signature	Tony Hunt
Inscriptions	Kwakiutl Sisiutl Settee 45/100/72
Materials	ink
Support	paper, unidentified
Fabrication Techniques	screen print
Dimensions (cm)	64.5 (Width) • 46.6 (Height)
Functions	Art
Barcode	604728

Print – Kwakiutl Sisiutl Settee

Sisiutl is a powerful supernatural being in Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) First Nations cosmology, represented as a two-headed sea serpent, often with a humanoid face at the centre of its body. An important mediator between the natural and supernatural worlds and an ally of the shaman, Sisiutl may intercede with other supernatural beings on behalf of humans under its guardianship. Variations of the creature are found in First Nations cultures throughout the Pacific Northwest, from the Tlingit’s Grubworm to the Nuu-chah-nulth’s (Nootka’s) Mountain Snake.

Many of the features associated with depictions of Sisiutl appear in this 1972 serigraph by Tony Hunt. The serpent heads have protruding tongues and upturned noses, with spirals suggesting dilated nostrils. Crescent shapes run along the body, signifying scales. The head in the centre represents cannibal spirit Baxbakualanuxsiwae, a key figure in the Kwakwaka’wakw winter dance. All three heads are crowned with the plume-like horns associated with supernatural beings.

Tony Hunt

Tony Hunt Sr. was born in the Kwakwaka’wakw community of Alert Bay, British Columbia, in 1942. He was hereditary chief of the KwaGulth people at Fort Rupert and belonged to a family of renowned artists and professional woodcarvers, including his maternal grandfather, Mungo Martin; his father, Henry; his two younger brothers, George and Stanley; and his son, Tony Jr.

Hunt served as assistant carver to his father from 1962 to 1972. Together they restored many deteriorating totem poles through the Royal British Columbia Museum’s Indigenous art restoration program. Hunt created one hundred original, full-scale totem poles, each carved out of a single cedar log. He designed the massive KwaGulth ceremonial Big House at Fort Rupert, and created countless paintings, prints and cedar board carvings in the traditional KwaGulth style. Raven Transforming into Man, a four-tonne stone sculpture commissioned for the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History), is one of his major works. Hunt died in Campbell River in 2017.