Raven and the Box of Daylight

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

Museum, Air And Space, Society & Culture, National Museum, Tony Cohn, Sidedoor, Natural History, African American History And Culture, Postal Museum, History, American History, History Of The World, Exhibits, Art19, Pop Culture, Smithsonian, The Smithsonian, Science, Washington, National Zoo, Zoo, Dc, Exhibit

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before here was here Raven was a white bird, and the world was in darkness. So begins the story passed down among the Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial. This origin story has survived by passing from the lips of one person to the ear of another – from generation to generation. In this episode of Sidedoor, Tlingit glass artist Preston Singletary shares it in a new way: leading us on a journey from darkness to light through dozens of luminous glass sculptures.

Speakers

Miranda Belarde-Lewis, independent curator and assistant professor of Information Science at the University of Washington

IG: miranda505

Preston Singletary, internationally acclaimed Tlingit glass artist

IG: @prestonsingletaryglass

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PrestonSingletaryGlass

Emil Her Many Horses, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

IG: @SmithsonianNMAI | Twitter: @SmithsonianNMAI

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is SideDor, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX, I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:23.9	Okay, I want you to take a moment here with me, and if you're not driving or biking
0:28.3	balancing on something tall, close your eyes. Are your eyes closed? All right, take a deep breath.
0:37.9	Feel the air on your skin, and once all the residual speckles fade behind your eyelids,
0:45.2	what do you see? Total darkness, like a velvet cloak, and no matter how hard you try, you see nothing.
0:54.5	Darkness. It's dark and air. But you can hear. And there's rumbling.
1:08.2	This is Amel Hermany Horses, curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
1:13.4	and then you hear voices. You hear the voices of community members talking.
1:29.3	Hearing these voices, you see a form off in the distance. It almost looks like it's glowing white.
1:36.5	You walk toward it, and as you get closer, you make out the curve of a beak, the thrust of a chest,
1:44.3	pointy little feet, and the ridge of a folded wing.
1:51.6	You're standing in front of a bird, carved out of white glass. It's a raven, poised to lead us through
2:00.5	a story. Before here was here. Raven was only named youth. He was a white bird, and the world
2:14.4	was in darkness. Okay, you can open your eyes now, but remember that darkness, because our
2:25.6	story begins in a world before there was light. It's an origin story, passed down by native
2:32.6	peoples of the Pacific Northwest for generations. Do you know how old this story is? No.
2:41.1	Is it a simple answer? No. This is Miranda Balardi Lewis, guest curator of the exhibition.
2:47.2	You know, there's a common phrase in native communities we say since time immemorial,
2:52.9	since forever, basically, it's been around since forever. Miranda is enrolled in
2:57.6	Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, and she grew up hearing this story from her clinket family on her mother's
3:02.6	side. My mother's family is from the Duckington clan of the clinket nation in Southeast Alaska.
3:09.7	The clinket nation is one of many indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Their native lands
	...

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