”Wetiko” (aka “Wendigo” or “Windigo”) is an Algonquin word that describes an insatiably greedy cannibalistic spirit or disease that consumes everything that keeps itself alive. I made these archetypal masks and brought them to life to represent various aspects of Wetiko as well as the antidotes to this disease. I wanted to give these aspects that I recognize in myself and in the world an actual face (made from plaster cloth on my own face) and likewise to show ways to combat them internally and externally. I believe that it is only by “facing up” to these parts of ourselves that we have a chance of creating a future that we can live in.
Photos by Larry Pollock, http://larrypollockphotography.com
More info: unmaskit.com | larrypollockphotography.com
Wetiko: a part that is insatiably greedy and doesn’t care about the consequences of indulging its hunger.
Fear: a part holds us back from responding to our own higher and wiser callings.
Shame: one of the parts that is most crippling to feel and which we try at all costs to avoid experiencing.
Inertia: Another immobilizing part that makes everything seem too difficult to be worth bothering making effort towards changing, even if doing so is for the better.
Pleaser: a part that doesn’t want to rock the boat and would sell its soul to keep whatever so-called “peace” it believes its keeping.
Desire: a part that always wants more, better, and different every thing.
Soldier: a damaged part that thinks the best solution is always to fight.
Privilege: a part that is too busy with its own private life to have time for anything else.
Woe of the World: a part that is connected to and in touch with the pain of others.
Addict: a selfish part that just needs a break from everything and is willing to sacrifice all including health, money, relationships, the environment, and the entire planet even, to support its habits.
Grief: a part that is devastated by all the internal and external destruction and loss.
Nature’s Voice or the Mute: a part that isn’t able to have a verbal language through which to express itself.
Insight: a part that is able to be reflective and to look within and without for deeper understandings that have the potential to alter our entire perspective.
Courage: a part that feels fear and steps forward anyway.
Eccentric Artist: a part that mixes and matches any and everything in order to bring it’s imagined new creations to life .
Rebel: a part that doesn’t accept the social status quo, questions authority, and disrupts business as usual.
Love: a part that appreciates people, animals, the environment, and the diversity of all living things.
Mystic Pilgrim: a part that seeks for understanding beyond the seen world into the realm of the spiritual.
Compassion: a part that has empathy for every one and thing, exactly as they are.
Transcendence: a part that is full of peace and joy and is content regardless of all that is happening in the internal and external world.
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