The Alaska Native Arts Foundation is pleased to present the exhibition RESISTANCE as a pop-up event at the Wild Birch Hotel on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 between 7-11 pm. This exhibition includes a diverse array of artwork that responds to the theme through sculpture, prints, flags, textile works, short films, and photography. Recognizing that not all art is made to be hung on walls, the event will have an open stage to have space to share dance, poetry, and song. Indigenous foods will be shared through a collaboration with Tlingit chef Rob Kineen. The public is invited to attend, celebrate and bear witness.
The exhibition is curated by a team of volunteer Alaska Native curators, Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich, Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi, Drew Michael, Melissa Nenantaxnen Shaginoff and Clover Snelling-Klanott. In a curatorial statement about the project, the curatorial team describes, “Here you will see Indigenous ways of being and Indigenous sovereignty in visual forms. Artists resist Indigenous erasure, we bring attention to the rights of our homelands, we celebrate our inherent right to share who we are as Indigenous peoples. We seek to uplift Indigenous ceremony.”
Artists included in this exhibition hail from all over Alaska, alongside a handful of artists from other northern communities (Sweden, Canada and Greenland). Some of the work that will be on display speaks to issues around environmental justice and food sovereignty. Other work references Indigenous connections across northern homelands, and solidarity around self-governance. This exhibition is meant to spark discussion, connections and create visibility for Indigenous presence.
Speaking about the importance of including artists from other northern places in this exhibition, Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi explained, “we are all connected across the North through shared histories, and shared materials. Including artists from other northern places is a way of showing our solidarity and ways of belonging across borders.”
The exhibition is supported through partnerships with Native Movement and the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and with funding support from the Curating Indigenous Circumpolar Cultural Sovereignty Program, the Atwood Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation.
If you miss the pop-up event in October, there will be future opportunities to see the exhibit. RESISTANCE will have a secondary iteration at UAA this fall, opening at November 13 at the McPeck Gallery. The Alaska Native Heritage Center will present a version of this exhibition in January 2027. Updates about the exhibition will be shared on the Alaska Native Arts Foundation’s website: https://aknativearts.org/news-and-updates/