Susie Silook
Susie Paallengetaq Silook (born 1960)[1] is a carver, sculptor, writer and actress, of Siberian Yupik, Inupiaq and Irish descent.[2] She was born in Gambell, Alaska.[3]
Life and career[edit]
Silook works primarily with walrus tusk ivory and whalebone, and selects for her subject matter images of women, including violence against Native women,[2] rather than the more common depictions of animal motifs. She explores the realm of the fantastic in Yupik culture, working with ancestral ivory doll forms from her tribe on St. Lawrence Island.
She is an activist for Indigenous women and artists, building awareness around the cultural, legal use of walrus ivory and other media from the food sources of her people, which are slowly being banned in the United States due to President Obama's order banning elephant ivory in America. Highlighting the overreach of colonialist conservation in this disenfranchisement of the one of few resources available to communities still living harmoniously with their natural environment, she advocates for the rights of Indigenous People in conservation movements.[4]
Silook's sculptures are in the Anchorage Museum, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, de Young Museum, and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.[4]
Awards and recognition[edit]
- Governor's Award for an Individual Artist (2000)[2][3][4]
- Eiteljorg Fellowship (2001)[2][3][4]
- United States Artists Rasmuson Fellow (2007)[4]
Bibliography[edit]
- Silook, Susie (2001). "Two Against the Arctic: My Summer as a 'Movie Star'". Alaska Geographic 28 (3): 62–65. Silook describes her experiences appearing in Two Against the Arctic while an elementary school student in Nome. The film, produced by James Algar and directed by Robert Clouse, was based on Sally Carrighar's Icebound Summer and aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in October 1974.
- Silook, Susie (2003). "The Artist Napaaq: 1906-1971". In Suzi Jones, Eskimo Drawings. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-1885267054.
- Silook, Susie (2007) "Graveyard and Bubbles." The Alaska Quarterly Review 24 (1&2). Poetry.
- Silook, Susie (2011) "Ungipamsuuka: My Story." The Alaska Quarterly Review 28 (1&2). Memoir as Drama.
References[edit]
- ^ "FRAMEWORK: Sedna with Mask by Susie Silook", famsf.org, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, retrieved 21 May 2019
- ^ a b c d Porter, Tom (22 February 2018), "Contemporary Alaskan-Siberian Artist and Activist to Lecture at Bowdoin Archives", bowdoin.edu, Bowdoin College, retrieved 21 May 2019
- ^ a b c "Susie Silook", aqreview.org, Alaska Quarterly Review, retrieved 21 May 2019
- ^ a b c d e Susie Silook: Bio, Seattle: Stonington Gallery, retrieved 21 May 2019
Further reading[edit]
- Berlo, Janet Catherine (2001). "Susie Silook: 'Simultaneous Worlds' and the Yupik Imagination". In Rushing, W. Jackson (ed.). After the Storm: The Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, 2001. Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. ISBN 978-0-295-98174-1.
External links[edit]
- Susie Silook review on Art Blat
- Silook, Susie. "Which Play to Write? She Listens to Her Native Voice." LA Stage Time.com. LA Stage Alliance. June 14, 2011.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
- Inupiat people
- Living people
- Native American sculptors
- People from Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska
- People from Nome, Alaska
- Yupik people
- 21st-century Native American women
- 21st-century Native American artists
- 21st-century Native American writers
- 20th-century Native American writers
- 20th-century Native American women
- 20th-century Native American artists
- Native American women sculptors
- Artists from Alaska
- 20th-century American sculptors
- 21st-century American sculptors
- Native American women writers
- Native American women artists
- 1960 births
- 20th-century American actresses
- American television actresses
- Native American actresses
- Inuit actresses
- Inuit artists
- Inuit sculptors
- Inuit women artists
- Inuit writers
- 20th-century women sculptors
- 21st-century women sculptors