Artist Statement

Melissa Shaginoff is Ahtna and Paiute from Nay'dini'aa Na Kayax (Chickaloon Village, AK). Her work is shaped by the framework and intricacies of Indigenous ceremonies and social structures. Melissa utilizes visiting in her art practice, searching for deeper understanding through moments of exchange and reciprocity. Melissa has completed residencies in New Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Canada, and Alaska. She has curated and juried art exhibitions with the Anchorage Museum, Alaska Pacific University, the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Coe Center, the Fairbanks Art Association, and the International Folk Art Museum. Melissa is also curating and operating the Kuzuundze’ ts’eghaanden Gallery. An Indigenous-centered space that supports Elders, youth, and emerging artists interested in developing their exhibition readiness. Melissa has been published in the Alaska Humanities FORUM Magazine, First American Art Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center’s Learning Lab. She is a founding member of Luk’ae Tse’ Taas (fish head soup) Comics, a new media collective focused on BIPOC representation in printed narratives. Melissa reclaims power for Indigenous peoples through movements of Land Back and what she calls an eclipsing of Land Acknowledgements. Working with settler communities on her traditional homelands, she is actively part of returning land to Indigenous ownership. Melissa has also created a Land Acknowledgement workshop that is aimed at settler-labor and acts of reparations.