Ułchena Huch'iłyut
In 2021 Ułchena Huch'iłyut was awarded the Alaska Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects General Design Honor Award. The larger project Hghy Hghazdatl: They All Gathered earned a Urban Design Honor Award.
Project Statement
Anchorage is located within Dena’ina Ełnena, the traditional land of the Dena’ina Athabascan people. “Ułchena bada Huch’iłyut,” or “Where We Pulled up the Alutiiq Boats,” is the original placename for Kincaid Park, and also is the story of a critical battle between the Upper Inlet Dena’ina and Ułchena people from Prince William Sound.
This project was an ephemeral placemaking project intended to elevate the stories of Athabascan people, amplify the voices of Eklutna tribe leaders, and acknowledge the land and the people who have inhabited it for centuries. This was done by selecting a familiar space in the public realm and transforming it to facilitate feelings of curiosity, surprise, and attachment through visual and auditory engagement.
This project was in conjunction with the Seed Lab Anchorage and 2019 Design Week and was done through collaborating with the following cultural and design professionals: Aaron Leggett, Nicholas Horn Rollins, Jonny Hayes, Tiffany Shaw-Collinge, and Jim Cole.
Touring the space, a group gathers to read the interpretive signage placed inside of the staged phone booth.
Laying out Tyvek on a frosty fall morning before fastening to the outside of the bridge.
Working late with volunteers to reinforce the edges of the tyvek with glue and tape.
Working late with volunteers to reinforce the edges of the tyvek with glue and tape.
Working late with volunteers in a bay at the Anchorage Museum to reinforce the edges of the tyvek with glue and tape.
Sunrise to the east, and temporary lights illuminating the tyvek below.
Using a forklift to help gain access to the outside of the bridge for tying off the fabric sheets.
With the Tyvek hung, in the darkness the bridge becomes transformed.
Project Description
The project was situated in Kincaid Park, just south of the Anchorage International Airport and is made up of 1,400 acres of rolling sandy soils and wind battered birch and spruce coastal woodlands. The installation was located on a large wooden bridge a few miles into the park approximately halfway between the entrance of the park and the end of the road, at Kincaid Chalet.
The installation intended to draw people in through the element of surprise; why is the bridge suddenly decorated? A familiar space that people traditionally move through becomes somewhere they linger; a once a familiar pattern interrupted by giant the tyvek walls (illuminated at night), and then again with the installation of a phone booth in the middle of the bridge. The last visual cue involves being drawn into the phone booth, where one realizes that there is no phone inside, but instead a prompt and a number describing “Ułchena bada Huch’iłyut,” or “Where We Pulled up the Alutiiq Boats,” - the last battle between the Upper Inlet Dena’ina and Ułchena people from Prince William Sound. On the other end of the phone call one is then welcomed with the story translated from Shem Pete’s telling in his native language by Aaron Leggett, President of the Tribal Council of the Native Village of Eklutna and Senior Curator at the Anchorage Museum.
“The last battle between the Upper Inlet Dena’ina and the Ulchena (Alutiit) took place in the 18th century at Point Campbell, in present day Kincaid Park. An Ulchena raiding party had crossed Portage Glacier from Prince William Sound and traveled in their open skin boats down Turnagain Arm and up Knik Arm, where they kidnapped the wife of a Dena’ina chief’s son. While the Ulchena were camped at Ulchena Bada Huch’ilyut, Dena’ina warriors from Knik attacked, and rescued the woman. All but two of the Alutiiq raiders were killed. According to oral tradition, the Dena’ina instructed the two survivors to return home to Prince William Sound to tell the story.”
The designers were responsible for fabrication of the “boat” and spent about a week preparing, measuring, and sewing large sheets of Tyvek. This was followed by procurement of the telephone booth, and installing grommets and text on tyvek, while coordinating electrical changes and light installations on the base of the bridge. Finally, lift equipment was rented the same small team spent a few subsequent days using knots and rope to install the tyvek on the sides of the bridge. In the nature of ephemeral design, an unexpected windstorm came through and dismantled one portion of the installation- the tyvek coverings of the “boat.” The phone booth and signage portion of the design stayed up for the remainder of the installation and was further punctuated by a blue gateway installed after the windstorm had taken the tyvek down.
This project was one of four installations as part of a larger placemaking effort and was titled in the Dena’ina language “Hghu Hghazdatl” translated to “They All Gathered.” The installation intended to elevate the stories of Athabascan people, amplify the voices of Eklutna tribe leaders, and acknowledge the land and the people who have inhabited it for centuries.
Project Summary
DESIGN TEAM: Taylor Keegan + Nicholas Horn-Rollins
CURATOR: Tiffany Shaw-Collinge
PROJECT ADVISOR: Aaron Leggett
PROJECT SUPPORT: Nicholas Carman, Simonetta Mignano, MOA Parks & Rec, and MOA Streets
PROJECT PARTNER: Anchorage Museum
FABRICATION + CONSTRUCTION: Taylor Keegan, Nicholas Horn-Rollins, Jim Kohl, Ryan Kenny, Jonny Hayes