I always speak to the truth of what really happened. It wasn’t until recently that people started understanding what happened to Indigenous children during that colonization. They were forced into boarding schools and it was complete cultural assimilation. They were stripped completely of their identity. They weren’t allowed to live their culture. They weren’t allowed to speak their language. My dad went to boarding school. My dad didn’t understand the art form. He knew of it, but from his cultural assimilation as a kid, he wasn’t allowed to speak his language. He wasn’t allowed to live his culture, so it was completely stripped from him. As a kid, I knew I was Tlingit, but I didn’t really have a firm grasp on the complexity of our culture and our heritage and how far it goes back. My grandfathers were all Dakl’aweidí chiefs of Xutsnoowú Kwáan. Big prominent guys. My great, great grand-father is Chief Gusht’eiheen and his name Gusht’eiheen, means “spray off the dorsal fin of killer whale.” There are famous photo-graphs of him. Every art historian, every ethnologist knows who Chief Gusht’eiheen was and what he represented. All the work of our ancestors was essentially removed from Alaska during colonization. When I got into this art, I asked my dad, because he told me who my grandfathers were, I asked, “Are there any pieces left from them, anything at all?” There isn’t one piece they had in the family lineage from my grandfathers. That was really heartbreaking to hear. So, when I wanted to learn this art form, I really had to go out and find it. I was committed to doing that. I said, “I want to do this, no mat-ter what it takes. I’m going to learn how to do this.” And this is exactly what I’ve dedicated everything to pursuing. But learning it, man, that was a tough, tough, tough road. TOP TO BOTTOM Raven Releases the Sun. Original art for Google. Transforming Raven Bentwood Box depicting raven releasing the sun. Best of Show Formline Sealaska Celebration Juried Art Show 2022. JAMES JOHNSON 089
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.4: Page 89
