Although he first experimented with carving at just fourteen, Mattiusi did not take up the practice in a sustained way until nearly two decades later. For years, his energies were directed elsewhere, including steady employment as a police officer, and carving remained only an occasional pursuit. It was not until his thirties that circumstance and opportunity aligned. With the support of a Canada Council grant, he was able to step away from the security of his job and commit himself fully to the discipline of sculpture, a turning point that marked the true beginning of his artistic career.

In his artist’s statement for his 2000 solo show at Spirit Wrestler Gallery, the artist explained, “When you look at my sculpture, you don’t understand all of it. For this reason, you have the freedom to dream. Everyone has opinions about art so I just put titles for each piece and leave the rest for dreams.”

This invitation to dream finds a striking example in the present work, where meaning shifts dramatically depending on the viewer’s angle of approach. From most angles, the work presents as an abstract horizontal form, at once sinuous and angular. Viewed head-on, however, a large planar surface emerges. Two faces are inset within it, one large and incised, the other smaller and cherubic, the pair are encircled by a drilled dot motif that transforms the plane into the hood of a mother’s amautiq. What seemed abstract suddenly resolves into a mother and child in a prone position, their forms encapsulated and protected by the warmth of the traditional women’s garment.

MBL