Crystal Worl describes her mural as a way of telling a different version of Anchorage's history — a story that celebrates the diverse Alaska Native people who make the city their home.
Crystal Worl is painting a 120-foot mural on a building at G Street and 7th Avenue in downtown Anchorage designed to reflect the diverse Alaska Native cultures in Anchorage. Photographed on August 11, 2022.
“I felt that it was very lacking of being inclusive of Indigenous people, and I felt that the only acknowledgement it gave me was that I exist in the past and that my history is not present,” she said in a recent phone interview. John Osgood, of Oakland, works with Crystal Worl on a lift as they begin to paint a mural in downtown Anchorage on August 9, 2022.
“I think the relevance of going back to recognize and celebrate the original owners and stewards of the land, it very much emphasizes our unique identity here,” she said. “When people come to visit Alaska, and when they live here, hopefully the visitors get to feel more and more the roots of the place rather than just what stores are open. I think that’s very meaningful.”Crews covered the prior mural with white paint last week, and Worl began working this week on the new mural.
Her mural depicts human figures, animals and nature in the Chugach Mountains. Worl said she plans to incorporate Alaska Native tribes within the small details of the mural, such as beading texture in much of the landscape, including depictions of dentalium jewelry, an important part of Dena’ina culture. And Worl is incorporating formline design, a type of art associated with Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian tribes.“They adapted to change,” she said.
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