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A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

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Wasilla

Wasilla is the place where I have lived for the past 29 years - sort of. The house in which my wife and I raised our family sits here, but I have made my rather odd career as a different sort of photojournalist by continually wandering off to other places to photograph people and gather information, which I have then put together in various publications that have served the Alaska Native Eskimo, Indian and Aleut communities.

Although I did not have a great of free time to devote to this rather strange community, named after a Tanaina Athabascan Indian chief who knew Wasilla in the way that I so impossibly long to, I have still documented it regularly over the past quarter-century plus. In the early days, my Wasilla photographs focused mostly upon my children and the events they participated in - baseball, football, figure skating, hockey, frog catching, fire cracker detonation, Fourth of July parade - that sort of thing. 

In 2002, I purchased my first digital camera and then, whenever I was home, I began to photograph Wasilla upon a daily basis, but not in a conventional way. These were grab shots - whatever caught my eye as I took my many long walks or drove through the town, shooting through the car window at people and scenes that appeared and disappeared before I could even focus and compose in the traditional photographic way.

Thus, the Wasilla portion of this blog will be devoted both to the images that I take as I wander about and those that I have taken in the past. Despite the odd, random, nature of the images, I believe they communicate something powerful about this town that I have never seen expressed anywhere else. 

Wasilla is a sprawling community that has been slapped down hodge-podge upon what was so recently wilderness of the most exquisite beauty. In its design, it is deliberately anti-zoned, anti-planned. In the building of Wasilla, the desire to make a buck has trumped aesthetics and all other considerations. This town, built in the midst of exquisite beauty, has largely become an unsightly, unattractive, mess of urban sprawl. Largely because of this, it often seems to me that Wasilla is a community with no sense of community, a town devoid of town soul.

Yet - Wasilla is my home and if I am lucky it will be until I grow old and die. Despite its horrific failings, it is still made of the stuff of any small city: people; moms and dads, grammas and grampas, teens, children, churches, bars, professionals, laborers, soldiers, missionaries, artists, athletes, geniuses, do-gooders, hoodlums, the wealthy, the homeless, the rational and logical, the slightly insane and the wholly insane - and, yes, as is now obvious to the whole world, politicians, too.

So perhaps, if one were to search hard enough, it might just be possible to find a sense of community here, and a town soul. So, using my skills as a photojournalist and a writer, I hope to do just that. If this place has a sense of community, I will find it. If there is a town soul to Wasilla, I will document it. I won't compete with the newspapers. Hell no! But as time and income allow, it will be fun to wander into the places where the folks described above gather, and then put what I find on this blog.

 

by 300...

Anywhere within a 300 mile radius of Wasilla. This encompasses perhaps the most wild, dramatic, gorgeous, beautiful section of land and sea to be found in any comparable space anywhere on Earth. I can never explore it all, but I will do the best that I can, and will here share what I find and experience with you.  

and then some...

Anywhere else in the world that I happen to get to, such as Point Lay, Alaska; Missoula, Montana; Serenki, Chukotka, Russia; or Bangalore, India. Perhaps even Lagos, Nigeria. I have both a desire and scheme to get me there. It is a long shot. We shall see if I succeed.

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Tuesday
Oct122010

The Kaktovik Healthy Communities Eskimo Dance - and the young artist who envisioned the mural

DateTuesday, October 12, 2010 at 12:42PM

I have a big task directly in front of me that must be done in a short time and then I have to hop on another airplane, so I will very quickly go through the pictures from the Eskimo dance held on the final night of the Healthy Communities Summit in Kaktovik.

Anyway, after the meetings had ended and supper had been eaten, participants gathered in the community center, along with the Kaktovik drummers, singers and dancers.

When it comes time to dance, some people are not at all frightened and shy.

Always, there is grace and beauty in the dance.

Always.

Much to be seen.

There she is again - in the middle of everything.

Motion dance.

Sometimes, ravens will appear on the floor.

Not all the fun happens in the dance.

Couples dance.

There is something about dancing...

...that makes people smile.

Final dance.

Afterward, there was more gospel singing. Just before it began, someone told me that the mural on the wall behind her had been created by Flora Rexford. I asked Flora about it and she said it was the work of many people in the community. She sketched everything out but then was joined by many other villagers, young and older, in the painting. 

She would instruct them on where to place such colors until the mural was done.

So when she stepped up to the mic to sing, I knew that I had to get a photo of Flora with the whole mural behind her and the musicians.

It was a difficult picture to take, because when I found the angle that seemed to best show the mural, Flora's face was obscured by the mic. Other angles created other problems.

So I shot a bunch, and in the end was not happy with any of them. But here is this one, anyway.

Maybe I should have used this one instead. There are many things about it that I like better than the one I chose, but I don't like the placement of the mic. 

But there's the mural, and here's the artist whose mind it came out of.

 

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they will appear larger and look better

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
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Reader Comments (5)

Thanks for taking us all along with you. Love the journey!

October 12, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGrandma Nancy

Hi Bill, your blog and photos are Awsome! If you have any that you'd like to share with our school send me more. The kids enjoy your photos and thanks for sharing and bringing back good memories of sharing and cooperation. Have safe travels and thanks for sharing!

October 12, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterflora

glorious pictures and i love the happy children, the little girl is just too adorable

October 12, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Beautiful photos. Beautiful people. Thank you.

October 13, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWhiteStone

I like the second shot of Flora. But I am a conventional photographer, not a "finder and seeker" like you are.

October 14, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterthe problem child

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