Events / Exhibitionscurrent

Raven is featured in most of the ancient Tlingit stories. For the most part Raven brought order to the world in his actions. He placed the stars, moon and sun in the sky, he shared water with the people and many other things. In these stories we find metaphors of life experiences reflected within them. But at some point, Raven stopped doing things, or at least our narration of it ceased.

In my new body of work I’m imagining that Raven has come back after sleeping for a long time. He does not recognize the world any longer and sets off on new adventures to discover what is going on now and trying to affect changes that are needed in the world. He may be
trying to take on climate change, protect the missing and murdered Indigenous women, or he discovered the Residential grave sites.

For us Raven can be a spirit that still teaches us about the world and our place in it. Sometimes he is deliberate in his actions, and sometimes he fails, but he fails up! In any case I hope that this will add to the cultural perspective as we reinvent Raven and his new adventures.

– Preston Singletary