Red Curl, 2018

I have a lot of fond memories of going to fish camp. I go there during the summer so there’s that nostalgic summertime feeling but also that is when our family spent the most time together. We always set time aside to do that because a lot of my family members relied on harvesting that fish.

Uvaŋa Kathleen. Iñupiaqsiñiġa Quyuq. Sitnasuaqmiuguruŋa paŋmapaq Kisaġviŋmi inuruŋa. Bonnar kuayaguruŋa. Aŋayukaakaa Maurice Bonnarlu Evelyn Bonnarlu. Asii ataataakaa Punilaguaqlu Uksiñaqlu suli Kathleen Bonnarlu Godfrey Bonnarlu.

My name is Kathleen. My Inupiaq name is Quyuq. I was born in Nome. I currently live in Anchorage. And my parents are Maurice and Evelyn Bonnar. My grandparents are Punilaguaq and Uksiñaq from Brevig Mission and my grandparents on my father’s side are Kathleen and Godfrey Bonnar.

Today, I’m looking at Red Curl by Sonya Kelliher-Combs, which is a series of acrylic and polymer objects that are red, and they are like strips that are curled to represent dried fish.

The objects are, I think, very representative of dried fish. When I saw them down the hallway, I knew exactly what they were supposed to convey. They’re rich, red salmon color and they’re a bit translucent, which I feel is true to the raw flesh of salmon.

I have the most visceral memories of having my grandma’s hotcakes. Her sourdough hotcakes. We would have those almost every morning for breakfast. It was an elaborate ordeal. She would wake up really early to get it all ready and she’d make stacks of hotcakes. And we would all sit on the floor of her cabin. Like if we had eggs and bacon, then we would roll that up into and dip that into the syrup. My memories are of it being like really sunny outside and like a gentle breeze and the water being still and we all knew that once we were done eating, we would have to get in the skiff, pull the net up, and it was time to get to work.