North, almost three thousand nautical miles from New Mexico, is an area where trees are non-existent or rare, snow and ice cover the land and the sea for more than half the year, and the indigenous people hunt and gather what the land, ocean and rivers provide for them as it did their ancestors. Their way of life and environment seem far removed from the Southwest, but the Maxwell Museum houses photographs and artifacts that are expressions of their culture. Preserved in collections, these objects and images are stilled voices waiting with stories to be heard. Connecting the narrative threads of these stories through collaborative research with Native communities, scholars and individuals begins the process of understanding, of finding words to express what these cultures’ visions have witnessed for centuries.

Everything in this exhibition may be seen from different perspectives. The Bering Sea communities where they originated provide connections to spiritual and physical heritage. Anthropologists and other individuals who have visited the Bering Sea region bring additional views as observers and collectors. Visitors to this exhibition add their own narratives. Through this process, the re-presentations seen here become portals where one traverses through images, memories and thoughts to envision the histories and people of the region.

The Bering Sea people are not a homogenous group but many varied communities with concerns about their past, their current position and their future. They are a committed people whose way of life demands respect and the understanding of which can never be assumed. Formerly known as Eskimo and Aleuts, they are the indigenous people of the Bering Sea region of Alaska, who are representatives of many distinct groups, separated by language or dialect. They are the Iñupiat and Bering Strait Yupiat of Northwest Alaska and St. Lawrence Island, the Yupiat and Cup’ik of Southwest Alaska, and the Unangan of the Aleutian Chain. This exhibition is only a small part of their story.