Apay’uq Moore is a true artist who uses color, sense memory, her relationship with the world around her, and her connection to her roots as a Yup’ik woman to bring her art to life. When I first looked at her paintings and murals, I was immediately struck by the color and texture — but truly, the subject matter is often the star. Apay’uq paints scenes, memories, and imaginings from Bristol Bay, her home and the home of her people.
I first contacted Apay’uq about a mural she painted depicting the future of Bristol Bay. I asked her about her inspiration, about her life as an artist. Somehow in just a few interactions, through her honesty and depth, she’s opened my eyes to a connection with Alaska that is so visceral and emotional that it frames her work as a sensory experience.
This conversation between Apay'uq and Kristin Gole, WAC Content Strategist, was edited for clarity and length.
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Where did the inspiration for this image come from?
The inspiration for this mural came with the ask from Bristol Bay Native Corporation, who contracted the mural for their 50th Anniversary, themed, "Imagine our Future." As a shareholder artist, they have employed my services with trust and freedom to create images with little direction, except that I hold true to the love of our people and ways of life. Considering the theme, the imagery came with the summer energy. Our people are gearing up for the salmon season, purchasing jars for "canned fish," string to hang strips, freezer bags for fillets and organizing freezers for the 2022 catch. All of us are collectively anxious for the return of our beloved salmon and customary food harvesting — the most traditional and nostalgic of which is the process of making salmon strips, a process that involves many experiences and all levels of skill, making it a perfect family event and foundation for stories and the continuation of our traditions for generations to come. It’s a food item enjoyed by all, remembering all the steps it took to get the fish from ocean to table and the wealth and privilege to share food with many.
Can you explain "Imagine Our future" in terms of the salmon depicted here?
Imagine Our Future is a theme that BBNC chose to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their incorporation. Our native corporation is one of the 12 formed regarding land claims. So it isn’t a typical corporation. Because it is indigenous owned, our shareholders and board have worked to deviate slightly in a way that we profit, not just monetarily, but also in ways that rebuild our traditional values and support our people to thrive culturally. And this is what the mural is messaging. Imagining our future means that we meld our traditions and modern living. Our cultural foods, lands, waters and beings will always be a common theme as we advance as indigenous peoples. While we explore business and capitalism, it is essential that we consider our native values before making financial decisions that could impact our future generations ability to succeed spiritually and financially. To me, “imagine our future” means we value our traditions and culture above appropriation.
How does Alaska inspire your work?
Alaska itself doesn’t inspire my work. I’m giggling a little, envisioning Alaska as a Patagonia and REI catalog. But this isn’t what Alaska is to me. Our people have been here for thousands of years, and I have been raised as a part of the continuum, before Nat Geo and the glamorizing of indigenous peoples as part of the past. Forgetting us here in the present.
Before I “knew,” I was here; as a part of the lands, waters and beings. A person of my mother and the generations before us.
My work comes from places I can’t even describe. All of the memories that aren’t remembered as images, memorized in our brains’ molecular system for us to feel without knowing. We think we have ideas, but lifetimes have been lived for a simple sentence of thought.
The way I work has been passed down from person to person. Twitches in an eyebrow, blink of an eye, pursing of lips… unspoken communication to behave, perhaps, direction without direction. I was brought into the world in a situation, and have followed along to love the way we live. We go outdoors, we love eating food from the land, we adore babies and allow reincarnation of our elders through them, we see relation in our animals and the similarities we embody. We learn to respect the world by seeing we are all a part of it.
These words are just snapshots. There is so much more to our way of life, and that is ultimately what inspires me. My inspiration is learning to see our ancestors within myself. So I guess my inspiration isn’t from a place, but from a people and the values that made them a part of the place. I am inspired to create imagery as our ancestors present themselves inside me and it’s translated into art and imagery that is a reflection of simplifying millennia of living in this place.
Thank you to Apay’uq for sharing your art and your thoughts with us.
