“There was a time in the past where masks were carved to depict the speakers, these speakers were chiefs who carried the responsibility to uphold land values, they spoke for the land to ensure the people would always have a place to call home and in return the land would nourish the people. Much has changed over time and today we are still facing extreme resource extraction. Over the past 100 years Canada has made timber exportation a priority, and with lumber prices reaching an all time high there’s no intention of slowing down. The speaker mask has become symbolic today, so my interpretation was to not finish the details that highlight the senses, such as: lips, nostrils and eyes in this cedar mask. This is in hopes that we can reach towards change and find alternatives before 100% of the old growth is gone.” - Rande Cook

Rande Cook’s practice currently centres a collective response to the land which holds the teaching of his forefathers. Contained within this work is the acknowledgement of material extraction and cultural erasure through its activation of traditional forms in new material contexts. This mask depicts the figure of the Speaker, who were usually chiefs carrying the responsibility of upholding land value by mediating communication between the land and its people. While consciously omitting the details of the face, Cook’s interpretation calls upon a sense of urgency towards the loss of old growth. To this end, the mask is also cast in resin to highlight the shift of material use in cultural practice as a result of such a loss.

Through a material as manufactured as resin, Cook still calls upon the land by integrating natural dyes to the mask derived from mycelium, the fungal network of communication connecting trees to each other through their roots. The dye is set in the resin using the tonal sounds of Mungo Martin reciting songs and stories. In this way, Mungo Martin’s voice had choreographed the dye particles into the observable formation.