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Phillip Charette

Contact Info:

541.519.2635

phillip@spiritone.com

Phillip Charette

Utetmun

"I was told by my Yup'ik elders and believe that, "The spirits of our healers will return, and when they do, they will be more powerful and aware than ever before."

—Phillip Charette

 

Utetmun

Yup'ik Meaning: Homeward, or toward one's point of origin.

 

Images in this series of 24 monotype prints represent an old Yup'ik story about the return of our traditional healers. It is the story of the spiritual return of the shaman.

I was told by my Yup'ik elders and believe that, "The spirits of our healers will return, and when they do, they will be more powerful and aware than ever before."

Each monotype is printed on Rives BFK white and hand-made paper. Paper size, 15’’ x 24 1/4’’. Printed at Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts.

 

What the Various Elements Mean

Though the arrangements of the images in this series vary, they all contain the same elements, and they all use elements that have traditional meaning to the Yup'ik people.

  • The small window represents a view into a traditional dwelling with forms representing 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 image in this piece represents the Kuskokwim mountains (my home land) and the reflection of the mountains in the water.
  • The image holding the piece cloth are the spirits of the Angalkuq (shaman) returning to heal the people and the lands.
  • The red piece of cloth was used during the Sun dance ceremony and was gifted to the artist. 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 grandparent’s generation (elders of my grandparents generation 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 and life force taken from both the land and the people.