A place where Native people tell the Native story [Video]

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – Inside the Sealaska Heritage Institute‘s (SHI) Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau, Alaska Natives tell “the Native story” of communities in southeast Alaska and beyond.

“Our mission is to perpetuate and enhance the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures,” SHI development officer David Russell-Jensen said.

“We’ve been here as we know as southeast Alaska Native people for 10,000 years or more. Hopefully we’re going to be here for another 10,000.”

Walking into the Walter Soboleff Building, visitors are first struck by the monumental artworks that adorn the traditional clan house.

For many visitors, it’s their first time experiencing this kind of art, Russell-Jensen said.

“We have a very distinctive art form [called] Northwest Coast art, sometimes known as formline,” he explained.

“Everything is covered in art, but it has a ceremonial aspect. It’s not …