My poems "The sʔuladxʷ Map of Seattle" and "Salmon" are part of the "Submergence: Going Below The Surface With Orca And Salmon" exhibit on display at the Jack Straw Cultural Center from June 1st to June 31st for Orca Month.
Submergence: Going Below the Surface with Orca and Salmon is an innovative, multimedia exhibit featuring visual art, text, audio, and audio visual works, centering on the theme of southern resident orca and Chinook salmon co/recovery. Submergence will take place during Orca Month 2021, June 1st-July 2nd, 2021, at Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle, Washington. The Endangered Species Coalition acknowledges Seattle as the traditional territory of Coast Salish Peoples and as the past and present traditional land of the Duwamish People.
The Submergence exhibit is the culmination of a year-long workshop and event series, where artists and writers engaged with natural science and Pacific Northwest Indigenous perspectives to create works reflecting the biological and cultural significance of orca and salmon. This collaborative project is created and supported by the Endangered Species Coalition, Creature Conserve, and Jack Straw Cultural Center. We’re honored to include poems written and voiced by author Rena Priest, Lummi Nation Poet and the 2021 Washington State Poet Laureate, in the exhibition; many thanks to the Washington State Arts Commission and Humanities Washington for their support.
In addition, ESC appreciates the hundreds of people who attended and created artworks out of the orca-salmon co/recovery workshops and interacted with the project on Creature Conserve and ESC social media. We’re deeply appreciative of all our Indigenous, science and guest author presenters who participated in this series; the teachers who instructed and facilitated the workshops; the jurors who reviewed and selected work for the exhibit; all of the creatives who shared works for consideration; and the voice artists and audio engineers creating the exhibition soundscape.
We are humbly grateful to the more-than-human orca and salmon, who continue to inspire and guide the vision for this project.
Visiting the Exhibition and Event Schedule
We welcome you to view the Submergence exhibition in-person, by scheduling the time and date of your visit with Jack Straw Cultural Center. Please note that currently, due to Covid-19, visits are by appointment only and can be scheduled Monday-Friday, between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. Please call 206-634-0919 or email jsp@jackstraw.org to schedule your visit.
The virtual show opening will take place on Friday, June 4th at 7:00 pm PST, featuring an introduction by curator Jeanne Dodds and virtual tour of the exhibit, including the opportunity to view the visual works in the show, hear the audio soundscape and see the video works included in the exhibition. To participate in the Friday, June 4th opening event, please visit Jack Straw Cultural Center’s Facebook page at 7:00 pm PST to view the livestream. We’re currently planning other events during the exhibition month – event dates, details, and how to participate will be available this page.
