Rovaniemi Art Museum has produced an exhibition of the contemporary Native art of Alaska in collaboration with the Anchorage Museum, Alaska. The exhibition shows art of indigenous people, focusing on the high quality and challenging works from the collection of the Anchorage Museum.
The Anchorage Museum’s collections exist primarily as a means of fulfilling their mission to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret cultural materials which illustrate the art and history of Alaska and the circumpolar North. The Museum has important collections of Alaska Native artifacts, historical and contemporary artwork, and objects that illustrate Alaska's history. The Alaska Native collections are the largest component of the Anchorage Museum’s collections. The Museum is particularly proud of its strong collection of contemporary Alaska Native art which contains works by Alvin Amason, Rebecca Lyon, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Erica Lord, Larry Beck, Nicholas Galanin and Sonya Kelliher-Combs as well as many others.
The exhibition Place of Origin is shown in Rovaniemi Art Museum. The exhibition makes both art and cultural heritage of the Arctic available and enables the better understanding of Arcic art. Some of the Alaska Native art speaks of the cultural heritage in a whisper; some call out in a loud, clear voice.
The exhibition is funded by Anchorage Museum, Jenny ja Antti Wihuri Foundation, Nordisk Kulturfond, Nordic Culture Point, US Embassy and Rovaniemi Art Museum Friends.
Pictures:
Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Being the Song, 2012. Photo: Anchorage Museum
Rebecca Lyon, Women of the North, 2004. Photo: Anchorage Museum
Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Goodbye. Photo: Adam Eronen Piper / Rovaniemen art museum
Place of Origin exhibition view. In front the sculpture by Lawrence Ahvakana, Man With the Burden (1974). Photo: Adam Eronen Piper / Rovaniemi art museum