Indie Alaska

I don't see it as work.

I see it as almost a healing experience.

Each time I create something, I can create almost anything with crocheting.

The color variation offers a larger palette and I like that it gives a sense of like coziness or feeling warm.

And I feel like I'm a pretty warm person and I just like that I could kind of correlate onto somebody else.

I pull out of inspiration from kind of around my childhood.

I'm Siberian Yupik and I'm from Gambell on St. Lawrence Island It's right between Nome and Russia.

My mom did tell me that my great, great grandma crocheted, so she's actually tattooed on the side of my leg.

So it kind of like becomes intertwined and connected.

I couldn't afford Christmas gifts, so I thought, okay, let me try something new.

Saw something on YouTube of someone making a beanie.

And I thought, okay, I'm going to try that.

First beanie turned out horrible.

I started making shrugs and then granny squares took over my mind.

And with those squares I like to just connect them A balaclava is almost like a hood or a ski mask, but it leaves the full face opened.

I feel like for every artist we have our own variation or take on it.

A little piece of ourselves.

And I like to intertwine my my own style and esthetic to these pieces.

I felt out of place a lot growing up, and I think a lot of that stemmed from not embracing my indigeneity and really tuning into that.

You know, I was surrounded by it and that wasn't seen as a good thing, but it wasn't till I grew older and I was like, gosh, I feel so lost.

And it wasn't until I realized it's just me not embracing who I am, where I come from, my community, my family, my culture.

Know your indigeneity because solely it's it's it's all we really have.

It's exactly who we are.

Spring coming up.

I'm feeling a lot of greens and pinks.

The color palette I use and the things I create can kind of give people a childlike feeling.

I feel a lot of warmth seeing it out in the public eye.

If someone comes up to me and says, Hey, I love your work, I just get excited and I feel there's comfort in.

I feel like what I'm putting into each piece will carry on to whoever's wearing it.

I feel like they can feel what I felt during that whole process as an indigenous person.

Me just creating it will kind of fold into inspiring others to just create.