Untitled Totems
December 11th, 2009
Design: Brian Jungen
Client:
Date: 2007
As he has already proven with his Nike masks, Jungen possesses an unmatched ability to transform unremarkable consumer goods into provocative work. Original commodity and final product may seem, at first glance, far removed from each other, yet they are integrally linked. No element of Jungen’s process is incidental to any other.
Here, the tubular forms and the pouches, pockets, zippers, accessories, and embellishments of the golf bags are converted into the bodies, faces, wings, and claws of creatures associated with Northwest Coast First Nations cultures. Wolf, Raven, Thunderbird, Frog, and Salmon emerge out of arrangements of circles, ovoids, and form lines, the basic components of traditional Northwest Coast design–and of golf bags too, apparently.
The references to golf immediately call up Oka-style conflicts between the beliefs of aboriginal peoples and the interests of non-aboriginal developers and leisure seekers. Like Jungen’s Nike masks, his poles allude to globalization, prestige commodities, economic disparities, and the disappearance of local and indigenous cultures into the maw of multinational corporations.
Entry Filed under: Best of the CDR,Miscellaneous,Symbols,Textiles
3 Comments Add your own
1. J.Jones | December 11th, 2009 at 10:12
I have to say, these photos do not do this project nearly the justice it deserves. These totems are truly striking. The transformation from golf bags to iconic First Nations representation of wild creatures is outstanding. If you get a chance, go see these for yourself in person!
2. T Falkowsky | December 11th, 2009 at 11:06
I agree they are amazing…it took me a few minutes in the gallery to get a handle that they were made from such an oddball material. Once you put it together, golf bags, faces, they become majestic.
3. John Ryan | December 12th, 2009 at 11:58
This picture hardly does them justice. As the author says, Jungen has used the bumps and crevices of the bags’ various pouches, pockets, and compartments to create surprisingly realistic depictions of the animal faces seen on authentic totem polls.
When you’re looking at these in person, the faces aren’t immediately obvious until you catch them from the right angle, and suddenly they’re all you can see.
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