Sonya Kelliher-Combs

Sonya Kelliher-Combs is an Alaskan artist of Iñupiaq and Athabascan descent. Her powerful work explores the deep connections between cultural identity, memory, and the land. She is known for using a unique mix of materials, from traditional substances like walrus intestine and sealskin to modern plastics and paints. Through these choices, she creates abstract forms that feel like maps of history or pieces of a story that is still being told. Her careful, hands on process of sewing and assembling acts as a metaphor for piecing together identity in the face of change and loss.

Looking at her work through an ecofeminist lens reveals a powerful statement about the links between the wellbeing of the earth and the strength of Indigenous communities, especially women. Her use of animal materials is a respectful nod to traditional ways of life that depend on a healthy environment. By blending these with man made materials, she shows the reality of living in both a traditional and modern world. Ultimately, her art argues that protecting the land and upholding cultural knowledge are not separate fights but one and the same, a core idea of ecofeminism.