The Anchorage Museum

The Anchorage Museum launched a new exhibit this month celebrating the contributions, legacies and strength of women from the circumpolar north. “Extra Tough: Women of the North” gathers artwork from women from Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Finland and Russia to explore their often untold histories.

Resilience is a common theme throughout the “Extra Tough” exhibit.

“I come from a long line of very strong women,” said Linda Infante Lyons, an Alutiiq artist, standing in front of a portrait she painted of Ahtna artist Melissa Shaginoff.

Lyons’ mother’s family is from the village of Karluk on Kodiak Island, survivors of centuries of colonization that started with the Russian fur trade.

“The story of how the women held things together while many of the men were taken off as basically slaves to do the work for the colonizing forces, I think is an important one,” she said.

Read the full article here.