Allaŋŋuq
A research based arts project that calls for the recognition of the natural process of change and transformation that can be witnessed in our homelands and the wild relatives who we share it with.
Allaŋŋuq (i) to undergo a change, to be different than before
Change is a natural element of the living world and it can occur hourly, daily, seasonally, through lifetimes and millennia. Adaptation to these changes is done by natural beings in the environment by transformations. In the natural world transformation occurs in natural life processes, seasonal cycles and environmental reactions. How the wild beings of our environment here transform have been studied and observed by my ancestors since time immemorial. In this rapid time of change and environmental upheaval I look to the power of transformation as demonstrated by the natural living resources of our air, lands and waters. So much can be learned from those with the power to transform. Transformation can be unpleasant, beautiful, visually disturbing, painful, bloody, renewing, ending and many things in between.
Here we honor the power and beauty of transformation as it occurs in the natural world. Transformations of natural beings occur for many different reasons through their relationship to seasonal shifts and survival, their existence as living and adapting beings and rituals of change in the natural world. Allaŋŋuq honors the power of transformation held by other natural living beings of our environment and honors the adaption to change that we all must do in order to live within balance with that which is around us and within us.
My ancestors dreamed of the ability to change and transform into the animals around them, it was seen as one of the greatest and most powerful forms of shamanistic power. My ancestors recognized the ability to change, adapt and transform to be inherently powerful and that power could only be accessed by those with direct connection to the air, land, water and spirits. They knew that connecting to the environment and responding to it was an enormous power that many natural beings shared through their ability to transform in response to their environment. This power to connect and respond to your environment is a power that my ancestors worked towards through their adaptive spiritual practices, lifeways and subsistence protocols and methodologies. Allaŋŋuq connects to that deeper understanding of the power of wild non-human beings and the power of transforming to adapt to one's environment. Change is occurring everywhere but it is painfully obvious here in the Arctic, and the plants and animals that live here have been adapting to their environment for the past millennia. They transform to stay alive, will we?
Subsistence and land-based research for this project was conducted on the lands of the Indigenous peoples of:
Kasilof, Cohoe, Girdwood, Russian River, Cantwell, Alaska Parks Highway, Nome, Nome-Teller Highway, Anchorage & Fairbanks. Visual research and object study for this project was conducted in museum collections and with assistance from the following institutions:
Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, University of Alaska Museum of the North (Ethnology & History Collections) & The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.
The first body of work in this project was funded through generous support by: The Native Arts and Culture Foundation’s 2021 LIFT Award – Early Career Support for Native Artists program
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