LUCY CHEUNG

Chugach  Eskimo  woman  with labret  and piercings, Prince  William  Sound, Alaska, in engraving  made  1778

Chugach man wearing spruce root hat, beads, earrings, nose piercing, woven cloak; Prince William Sound, Alaska engraving c. 1778

A Woman of Oonalaska (sic) [engraved portrait by John Webber of Aleut woman with tattooed face and linked nose labret.]

Nootka woman with woven hat & cedarbark cape, Nootka Sound, British Columbia, in engraving made 1778

From randafricanart.com. And I think I read the following from Shaman: the wounded healer by Joan Halifax: 

This art is not art for art, rather it is art for survival for it gives structure and coherence to the unfathomable and intangible. By ‘making’ that which is the unknown, the shaman attains some degree of control over the awesome forces of the mysterium.

Illustrations by Agnes Nanogak from the book ‘Tales from the Igloo’.