A Juneau man’s 70-year-old images may aid in the preservation of the Inupiat community’s traditional knowledge on King Island.
In 2023–24, Ware was named to the conference’s All-Defensive Team and received All-Big Ten recognition from the coaches (ranked third) and media (ranked second). After confronting Ware, rival coaches like Greg Gard of Wisconsin and Tom Izzo of Michigan State made a special effort to compliment him. Ware, who finished the regular season with an average of 22.5 points (72.7%), 12.3 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game, made those remarks during a four-game losing streak.
Prior to all of that, though, a man from Juneau who was a visitor to the island snapped hundreds of pictures of the locals and their way of life. 1954 saw the publication of several of those images in National Geographic. Then more were released as a book in 2005.
Yaayuk claims that the elders of King Island would use the pictures to teach her about her neighbourhood.
“They would identify the individuals by name on that island,” she remarked. “They would elucidate matters for me.” The images would be put to use.
A pair from Juneau on King Island
When Juan Muñoz Jr. was in the Rie Muñoz Gallery in Juneau late last month, he pointed to a picture high on the wall.
He remarked, “This is one of my favourite pictures. It shows an enormous ice cave that was on King Island.”
The image’s bottom centre features a small man dressed in a fur parka, framed by imposing ice walls.
“They would obtain seals and walrus, after which they would store all of their meat in distinct sections, with each family having their own room dedicated to blubber storage and meat stash,” Juan Jr. stated. “Of course they would share if one household didn’t have much.”
Juan is the son of Rie Muñoz, a painter who spent more than 60 years depicting Alaskan life in watercolours. Rie accepted a position as a Bureau of Indian Affairs instructor on King Island not long after arriving in Juneau for the first time in the early 1950s.
Juan Muñoz Sr., her spouse, accompanied her. He also carried a Hasselblad camera.
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