Yup'ik Artist's Reflection

First, quyana to our Creator, who made all seen and unseen from nothing. He allows me to borrow the gift of imagination. Ellam Yua Jesus, the Master Artist who sees all and knows all, who enables nature and its living creatures to sustain every living Yuk—human. Yup’ik means “real human.”

As a mere Yuk, it took me a lifetime to understand what was spoken into my inner ear: “All is One, All as One, All is Love.”  At eleven years old, while marveling at tiny sandpipers flying like one, suddenly I saw a vision of fish and animals moving together in the sky, along with masses of creatures with one purpose.  Startled, I looked back to see who said those words. No one was there, yet I felt Him all around me and inside me.

It was spoken in a single word: LOVE. As if He was saying, “I love you” and so much more at the same time. Words cannot fathom the depth of that single word. It’s deep with no fathom to grasp. I can still feel the touch of HIS hand full of love with no depth.  

The word came to me while sitting among seagrass—grass used for beautiful baskets—overlooking Tununak Bay. That boy sat on Tununak’s beach marveling at clouds of tiny sandpipers flying together in perfect unison, joining with other flocks. In that moment, that young boy realized all the other animals were also moving together, migrating as a single unit.

No matter how many billions of creatures have lived since, they all share the same purpose. It is centered around love.

I also realized that was when my late mother Jane Oscar, asked me to illustrate for her lovely baskets with figurines of birds, seals, hunting and many more. The beginning of an artist’s journey.

Quyana Cakneq Agayun, Ellangcestarristeput, Ellam Yua Jesus.