Chatter Marks

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series curated by the research collective, Erratics, a curatorial group that creates art that explores geologic phenomena and the effects of human impact on the environment. In this episode, Tyler Rai, of Erratics, hosts a conversation about Mutations, Kin and Hybrid Bodies. It explores the ever-changing conditions of climate change, how our interdependence across species presents hybridized forms of collaboration and how, as a result, we are challenged to expand the ways we understand change and resilience.

Tyler is joined by sculpture and mixed media artist Flavia D'Urso, artist and engineer Jiabao Li and artist and poet Daniela Molnar.

Erratics is a curatorial group that creates art that explores geologic phenomena and the effects of human impact on the environment. The group consists of three members: artist and researcher Nina Elder, movement artist and researcher Tyler Rai and interdisciplinary artist and educator Hannah Perrine Mode. 

In Part 1 of this 4-part series, we meet Tyler, Nina and Hannah and they explain the origins of Erratics, their work within the collective and what unifies that work. The intention of the following conversation, as well as the three that follow, will be to reveal the concepts and ecologies that are foundational to a broad group of artists who are responding to geology, change and human action.

In this episode, Cody talks with four artists and musicians about their work on the Anchorage Museum’s new exhibition titled Listen Up: Northern Soundscapes. The exhibition explores and considers northern soundscapes to better understand humans’ relationship with, understanding of and impact on the natural world. 

A soundscape is made up of all the sounds of a given environment. Artists and musicians were given a soundscape that they remixed using their distinctive styles. Their music styles range from acoustic and classical to hip-hop, ambient and electronica.

Rejoy Armamento says that she’s always been interested in art, ever since she was a kid, but that it took her a while to reconnect with it in a serious way as an adult. As she got older, her attraction and affinity for it was stifled by feelings of ambivalence about whether being an artist was a realistic occupation. That was until she went to college in San Francisco, which she describes as a formative experience that re-introduced her to art. She says that she loves the sense of movement that comes with the energy of an active city. And it’s that energy that is present in her murals and in her art.

Today, she’s able to look back on her childhood and realize that she’s always been the person that she knew she was—she’s always been an artist.

When Meda DeWitt was in her early 20s, she began her journey as a traditional healer—she was pursuing a degree in nursing when she says that Spirit had other plans for her. She was having health events that couldn’t be explained by western medicine, so she sought and found answers in holistic medicine. She says that people have a tendency to think of traditional healing as antiquated or obsolete. However, traditional healers of the past and the present are in constant pursuit of knowledge and understanding. And for over 10,000 years, they have focused on a culture of wellness that promotes mental, physical and emotional health.

Chatter Marks is a podcast of the Anchorage Museum, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. Just search "Chatter Marks."

Ash Adams' work tends to focus on people and stories about humanity, and elevating the voices and experiences that have historically been underrepresented. In her work, this includes actively dismantling stereotypes by highlighting Indigenous voices and advocating for gender equity. She says that one role of photojournalism is to show what inequity feels like so that others may understand. And that if we diversify the voices that are telling the narratives and are writing history, then we’re going to have a documented history that is more reflective of what actually happened.

Jeroen Toirkens is a documentary photographer based out of The Hague in The Netherlands. He mainly works on long-term projects that can take years to complete. His most recent project, Borealis, took six years to complete. It’s a book that documents the Boreal Forest and the people who live in it. To accurately tell the story of the Boreal Forest—which is the largest land-based vegetation zone and makes up around 29 percent of the total forested area on earth—He and co-author Jelle Brandt Corstius immersed themselves in the culture and in the environment. 

In pursuing a project, Jeroen feels that it’s his responsibility to tell a story in the most accurate way he can. This involves patience and experience and letting the story tell itself, rather than molding it to a narrative of your own.

Francesca DuBrock is the Chief Curator at the Anchorage Museum, and she recently finished putting the finishing touches on Extra Tough: Women of the North, an exhibit dedicated to exploring how women have shaped Alaska and the circumpolar north. The exhibit was a massive undertaking, it took over 9 months to complete and now occupies the entire third floor of the Museum, which is about 7,500 square feet. It’s not intended to be a comprehensive history of the subject, but rather a multitude of snapshots that help explain how integral women are to the past, present and future of the north.  

Francesca says that a large part of unpacking all of this includes subverting cultural myths like ones that depict the brave, masculine explorer conquering landscapes. And, instead, portraying a cultural landscape where Indigenous people have lived for thousands of years. 

Thomas Chung says that he’s always been interested in art, even as a child, but that as he got older it became a means of self-preservation. His upbringing was marked by racism and homophobia, and art allowed him to express the emotions he didn’t consciously understand at the time. Those emotions, he would later realize, focused on cultural awareness and compassion, and would come to define much of his professional art.

In addition to being an artist, Thomas is also an assistant professor of Art at the University of Alaska Anchorage. There, he continues to champion diversity, equity and inclusivity. 

Tiffany Shaw-Collinge is an artist, curator and architect based in Alberta, Canada. She says that place and climate contributes to her work in a way that can’t be understated. It’s as integral to her craft as much as it is to her identity. In Part 2 of this conversation, Tiffany talks about her preference for working in a collective—that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts—and that her ultimate goal is to convey a sense of wonder and belonging in every project she’s part of.