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Transcript: Roger Fernandez

Spirit figures used for healing

[Fernandez:]
The first Salish art I ever saw—because I grew up in the city, I saw totem poles everywhere. I assumed this was our art. I was learning that art in college. It’s called the Northern Form Line Style. I picked up a book, and I opened it up, and it was full of spirit figures of the Puget Salish people, of the Duwamish people right here of the Seattle area, and these were very powerful little spirit figures that you might— the average person might say, “Well, this looks like it’s from Africa, or it looks like it’s from, you know, New Guinea, or the rainforests of Brazil.” It was very primal. It was very powerful, and these little spirit figures are used in ceremonies to heal people. They represent the spirits that guide the Indian doctors to the spirit world, where the Indian doctor recovers the spirit of the person who is sick.