Celebration: Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian Dancing on the Land

In 1982, the fledgling Native nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute held a dance-and-culture festival to celebrate the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. A couple of hundred Native people gathered in Juneau for the event, called the Celebration. They could not have imagined then that Celebration would spark a movement across the region - a renaissance of Native culture that prompted people largely unfamiliar with their heritage to learn their ancestral songs and dances and to make regalia for future Celebrations. Today, Celebration is the largest cultural event in the state, drawing thousands of people to the five-day biennial festival. Celebration, featuring the work by the noted Alaska photographer Bill Hess, includes images from the first Celebration to the present-day festivals. It is both an introduction to Native cultures and a cherished keepsake for the people who have participated in Celebration.

Maria Williams teaches at the University of New Mexico.