Statues --> American Indians

The villages in the north-west of Canada have always been known for their extraordinary imagination, which is expressed in a complex and dynamic artistic style that have a deep meaning for the native culture.

One of the most representative mask of all native peoples of the west coast of Canada is the mask of the sun, "SunMask", which symbolizes the Supreme Being and giver of life.

This mask is used in winter ceremonies to symbolize the promise of a new life that comes closer thanks to spring. The sun represents the seasons, the vegetation and the fertility of the earth. He is regarded as an old man walking slowly and majestically each day into the sky.

The traditional dance of the sun from east to west symbolizes the way the sun rises and it is particularly known in the Nuxalk Nation. The latter is the first indigenous nation of Canada in the territory of Bella Coola on the coast of the present British Columbia.

The mask chosen by Fabrizio Galli is the reproduction of a famous sculpture of an Nuxalh artist dating 1870. The "Sun Mask" is considered the symbol of the whole community, which reveres the sun as the primary source of life