By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A local Tlingit artist, who has earned national acclaim for her illustrations in a children’s book, called the art she composed on Wednesday’s Google search engine homepage a step forward in Indigenous representation.
“It’s wonderful. Representation is really important, and not just any representation but accurate and respectful representation. Native communities have a history of misrepresentation and erasure and that can be very harmful. So I think it’s amazing,” Michaela Goade told the Sentinel in a phone interview.
Those who went to google.com on Wednesday saw Goade’s image of Alaska civil rights icon Elizabeth Peratrovich, with a form line version of Raven freeing the sun in the background. Google is the most visited website in the world, according to the web traffic analysis company Alexa Internet, Inc.
Goade said the two layers of the image combine to tell a story of bringing light to the world.
“Raven brought sun and Raven brought daylight to the world. I thought it was a great comparison to Elizabeth (Peratrovich), another bringer of light. An homage to her clan that added a lot of meaningful depth,” Goade said. Peratrovich was Tlingit, a member of the Lukaax.ádi clan of the Raven moiety.
Michaela Goade (Photo from michaelagoade.com)
Peratrovich was a moving force behind the 1945 passage of House Bill 14, the Anti-Discrimination Act. The state archival website reads:
“This legislation was initially proposed by the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood, organizations composed primarily of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people from Southeast Alaska. Although the ANB and ANS contacted government officials various times prior to 1945, the first attempt to pass an anti-discrimination act failed in 1943. Two years later the campaign for its passage was championed by ANB and ANS Grand Presidents Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich (also husband and wife).
“Their tireless effort spent working with Governor of Alaska Ernest Gruening, and speaking of the bill’s benefit to legislators resulted in enough votes to see the legislation passed. Elizabeth Peratrovich’s 1945 speech before the Legislature has been highly credited as being influential in the bill’s passage.”
Goade highlighted the fact that this law was the first of its kind in the United States.
“Something that people find really surprising, that the legislation that she helped pass was the first anti-discrimination legislation in our country,” she said.
Goade hoped that her artwork would increase awareness of Indigenous people and of Peratrovich herself.
“I hope that we keep seeing more. It’s great to see growing representation… It’s been so fun already to see how warmly it’s being embraced by different communities. And I just hope it brings more awareness to Elizabeth Peratrovich and her life and her life’s work,” she said.
The positive response to her artwork has been overwhelming, Goade reported.
Composing the artwork involved a multi-layer process to allow for easy editing. She thanked Alison Bremner for her help on the form line depiction of Raven.
This artwork on Google is not the only public recognition of Peratrovich this year. In February, in time for Elizabeth Peratrovich day, the U.S. Mint released a one dollar coin bearing her image.
And Goade has earned recent praise for more than just her work with Google.
She composed the watercolor illustrations for “We are Water Protectors,” written by Carole Lindstrom, a well-received children’s book that visualizes the efforts to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in recent years.
Goade again highlighted the importance of accurate representation of Native people.
“It was an amazing project to work on. It’s been really incredible to see also how that book was embraced this year. The message really resonated with a lot of children and adults. And again representation is really important, especially on the bigger national publishing scale,” she said.
She intended her artwork to illustrate Indigenous peoples’ role in environmental movements.
“A picture book inspired by the many Indigenous-led environmental justice movements around our country and the world. It’s a celebration and love letter to Mother Earth and also a rallying cry for others to join – Native and non-Native – in the protection of our wild lands and wild waters,” she said.
Written lyrically, the book refers to the Dakota Access Pipeline as “a black snake that will destroy the land,” and charts the course of resistance to the project. Goade’s illustrations also depict the pipeline as a snake, spewing forth toxins that kill wildlife and poison waters. In poetic fashion, the author wrote a refrain that emphasizes the resilience of those opposing the project: “We stand with our songs and our drums. We are still here.”
The anti-pipeline protests peaked in 2016 in the Dakotas, and involved significant amounts of state-sponsored violence against demonstrators.
“Local law enforcement agencies, led by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, aggressively deployed militarized gear and weapons – designed for use in war – to intimidate peaceful protesters and violently crack down on a historic Indigenous-led movement,” an American Civil Liberties Union report penned by Jamil Dakwar in 2017 stated.
Goade considered including images of faceless police lines with dogs, but instead chose to focus on the protesters themselves, who referred to themselves as “Water Protectors,” hence the title of the book.
“Some of my earlier sketches played around with showing police dogs or faceless silhouettes to represent that opposition, but ultimately I decided to focus on the water protectors. All of the people behind,” Goade said.
In a write up for National Public Radio, author Cynthia Leitich Smith gave the book high marks.
“It’s not only one of the all-time best Native children’s books, but it’s one of the most beautiful and important picture books ever published – period,” Smith wrote. The book also won praise from the Washington Post, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews.
Goade said the positive reception of the book has been heartening.
“It’s really motivating and affirming. On one hand it shows the power of that accurate and respectful representation and that there are huge markets for it… I’m really lucky to be entering the publishing industry at this time,” she said.
She was particularly proud of the Kirkus nod.
“The biggest, one of the cooler accolades for ‘Water Protectors’ was getting selected as a Kirkus prize finalist. It didn’t win, but it was one of six finalists and it was one of two picture books… I’m just really happy to be in Sitka and represent Southeast Alaska and work towards greater representation and inclusivity,” she said.
Goade hopes that her work will be reaffirming to children, both Native and non-Native.
“Sometimes working in what we call the Native kids’ lit is intimidating, because there is a lot of criticism from all sides, but what I find most important is knowing kids see themselves reflected back to them. If they are Indigenous or Native, it is incredibly powerful to be reaffirmed that way… For non-Native children it’s also really important for them to see this book and see other cultures and know that these other cultures are valuable and exist and are thriving. And that nurtures more compassionate young people,” she said.
Moving into the new year, Goade plans to continue composing artwork for literature.
“I have another book coming out in April that I illustrated. It’s called ‘I Came Down from the Stars.’ It’s a picture book, a baby book. It’s written by a First Nations woman up in Canada. Her name is Tasha Spillett-Sumner,” Goade said.
Goade’s work can be found at https://www.michaelagoade.com/about. “We are Water Protectors” is on the shelves at Sitka Public Library.
