Out with the old and in with the new.
The mural featuring a timeline of Anchorage was painted over yesterday so that a new mural by artist Crystal Worl can be painted in its place on a building owned by Barbara and Larry Cash.
The new mural will honor Native culture and is part of a “reindigenization” of downtown. Worl’s mural is a project of the Anchorage Museum, Anchorage Downtown Partnership, Alaska Pacific University, Roadmap for a Vital and Safe Anchorage, and SALT, LLC.
Bob Patterson painted the old mural, called “Anchorage History” across the 120-foot width of the building that faces the City Hall parking lot. In the old mural, several turning point events were highlighted, including the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778. But the timeline stopped in 1997, the year the mural was painted.
“While the original mural accurately depicts events throughout Anchorage’s history, it fails to include the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples; this is where the new mural will serve the community,” said the explanation from Alaska Pacific University, which describes the new project as “Indigenizing the G Street mural.”
“This is a tremendous opportunity to really look at the longer history of this space,” Anchorage resident, Amanda Moser, said in the explanation at APU. “Alaska’s Indigenous people are still here and still driving change and moving things forward in Anchorage.”
Tlingit-Athabascan-Yupik and Filipina, Worl lives in Juneau and is the co-owner of The Trickster company with her brother. She recently painted a mural depicting Native leader Elizabeth Peratrovich on the side of the Juneau library.
The mural to be painted has a lot more color than the old one. A representation of it is shown here:
Why cover up the original paint the new one some place else. If the picture truly depicts what the new one looks like I wont say. I was taught when you dont have something good to say be quiet.
I am surprised that the new mural does not depict all of the identity politics people “interacting” with one another. I would have thought the Assembly would have insisted on that.
Looks like it would belong in a kindergarten school.
That new mural is positively hideous —- looks like Native Tele-Tubbies!
Is there a reason the white things look half human half animal? Seems racist or just art?
And there wasn’t room for both why…?
Stalin would be proud.
Why? Simple racism by white liberals who want to rewrite history instead of adding to it and correcting it when honesty demands.
Nobody hates white people more than rich white liberals.
Private building owners should be able to paint what they want on their buildings.
And your specious, non-sequitur of a comment does nothing to address the issues raised by TMA. As usual for you here.
What a load of crap. the continuation of blowing up the past so the people that build things are marginalized to make some BS statement that changes nothing but the narrative.
Way to just erase history, paint over it.
More commie wokism, imho.
Right, it should really show a bunch of white people (including Russians, priests, Sourdoughs) subjugating, raping, and stealing from the indigenous people who were already here before they got civilized. Let’s really tell the history.
Not indigenous, they’re Siberian. Fixed it for you.
Why, what is your intent? What is your political aim at …”really tell the history?” What will be your end?
True, to the extent that really happened is HORRIBLE, and is even more offensive when done by those who called themselves “Christians” and “missionaries;” though, they weren’t real Christians.
This is also real history that isn’t on any Native murals; though, the demonic influence is often shown, including on this one. Notice the face masks.
“Before they got civilized” (your words), there was a lot more rape, incest and suicide among the Alaska Native people than there is today.
So these replacement murals aren’t fully honest either. They don’t accurately depict what really happened. It often wasn’t utopia, like this replacement mural is trying to say.
Hey they list who owns the building right there. If they choose to do whatever to their building you have to support that. You don’t have to support the businesses that operate there though. And if you know these people you can let them know what you think.
and is part of a “reindigenization” of downtown.
Lol. Lmao.
I thought Republicans were for private ownership. The owners want a new mural, so end of story. This is not newsworthy, except that the new mural looks really beautiful in any case.
Such a shame. There weren’t enough empty walls in Anchorage for the new piece so that Patterson’s remarkable work could have been preserved? Anchorage Museum has become painfully woke, will they erase Wyland and all the unique Ziggy’s next?
The ‘woke’ leftists are *trying to champion homosexual lifestyle* as being normal and even desirable by attaching themselves to Natives and Blacks who sometimes have been discriminated against and under-appreciated because of their race and skin color — not because of the unnatural, LGBTQ+ lifestyle that violates how God made us and what God has said about homosexuality.
The original Anchorage History mural did not leave out indigenous people. Anchorage was settled by European Americans a land brought from the Russians, in a part of the uncivilized world where nobody else settled.
It started with a Tent City to build the railroad. ALASKA history includes Indigenous people. European-Americans CIVILIZED ALASKA.
Besides, the indigenous people of Alaska were not the original peoples, the Asians were.
Celebrate Civilization. How about the Dinosaurs?
What a wretched demented embarrassment of a mural. Patients at API could do better. Stay Stupid Anchorage! ???
I like the colors and the Van Gogh like dreaminess of the sky, mountains and water.
If the point is the “reindigenization” of Anchorage, perhaps local indigenous artistic styles should have been used, rather than the style and legends of Southeast Alaska. Southeast Alaska and South Central cultures have only their humanity in common, much the same as “indigenous” and European.
I am really upset they changed it! They should of just updated the painting and added more current information. it was one of my fav painting up here. I always showed out-of-towners it. It was such an amazing painting to show the history. Now this doesn’t tell any outsider anything about Alaska…..
Thank you for taking a photo of the original.
Any idea where one can obtain a framable print of Bob Patterson’s mural? I would like it on my wall which includes Iditarod art, the 4th Avenue Theater, Simon and Seaforts, and many photos of Anchorage in its better days.
The previous mural told a story, through art.
What is the story told by the replacement?
Art, as it were, depicts a message.
Can the artist of this replacement depict their message?
If Costco would open a Valley location, we’d only ever go to Anchorage to use the airport. Anchorage is a disgusting abscess.
You have
to ask what the first artist would think, his work destroyed, after the work he did. You know! There are plenty other buildings where the second artist can paint her work or other ways native decendents can stamp their existence. There is admirable incredible detail put into the 1st mural which is a quality generations ago appreciated more than today’s living artists and generations.
Totally agree. To have the first artist’s work destroyed and replaced with this grotesque caricature is insulting to all of us who admired it for many years. So goes the 4th Avenue Theater and other landmarks we enjoyed on our youth. Cancel culture – you bet! God Bless! What are “they” coming for next?
Totally agree. To have the first artist’s work destroyed and replaced with this grotesque caricature is insulting to all of us who admired it for many years. So goes the 4th Avenue Theater and other landmarks we enjoyed in our youth. Cancel culture – you bet! God Bless! What are “they” coming for next?
The new mural looks like a druggie’s dream. Have a nice day!
kids ( 80s 90s 2000s)growing up without knowing their identity or recieving any kind recognition, boasting, self congratulating, praising oneself is all part of the human effort believing God made you valuable, before you recieving christ when you no longer need peoples approval or recoginition. I think the sooner natives learn who
they were as a tribe, the sooner they see why our 18th century great- great- great-great grandparents embraced christ before they sent their children to boarding schools.
I Googled up Crystal Worl. She is definitely a X’s Grandchild of earliest Alaskan’s. It’s the Owner’s wall, It’s her Ancestry. Case Closed.
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