Dena’ina homeland exhibit doesn’t just preserve the past, it hopes to build a future

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A new exhibit at the Anchorage Museum highlights three areas important to the Athabascan peoples of Southcentral Alaska.

“Dena’ina Ełnena” is a series of three black and white murals created by Inupiaq artist Katie O’Connor of Nome.

The artwork was created using historical photographs portraying the time period after first contact with outsiders but before the building of the city of Anchorage.

One panel represents the subsistence activities and ecology from the Eklutna area. A second shows the mouth of Ship Creek, the future home to the city of Anchorage. And the third represents the mouth of the Susitna River.

Dena’ina words for the visuals accompany the murals and can also be heard at a listening station.

The Dena’ina homeland is about 44,000 square miles of Southcentral Alaska.

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