Crystal in front of Dena'ina Ełnena (Anchorage) Mural. Photo by Charles Tice
About the Artist
Crystal Kaakeeyáa Rose Demientieff Worl is Athabascan, Filipino, and Tlingit from Raven moiety, Sockeye Clan, from the Raven House. She is Deg Hit’an Athabascan from Fairbanks Alaska.
Crystal is a talented multidisciplinary artist based in Juneau, Alaska. She draws inspiration from her cultural roots and the natural world around her. Worl's artwork is diverse, ranging from Tlingit Northwest Coast design to contemporary multimedia pieces. Her work often explores themes of identity, connection to land, and the interplay between traditional and modern ways of life. In addition to creating art, Worl is also an advocate for Indigenous rights and works to promote cultural awareness and understanding through her art. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world and she continues to be a prominent voice in the Indigenous art community.
Today Crystal lives in Juneau, Alaska, working as a co-owner and co-designer of Trickster Company with her brother Rico Worl.
TRICKSTER COMPANY
Trickster Company is an indigenous owned design shop founded by siblings Rico and Crystal Worl with the goal to promote innovative indigenous design. As designers we strive to represent the way in which traditionally rooted people represent themselves in modern context and fashion.
We focus on Northwest Coast art and explore themes and issues in Native culture and strive to represent a prestigious lineage of art in fresh and energetic ways as a celebration of Northwest Coast culture as it lives today. We are active advocates of diversity in community and work to promote diversity in civic engagement.
We hope to provide products which act as cultural objects which modern indigenous people can represent their heritage, create products that non-native people can wear and appreciate without appropriating via cultural exchange, and to represent modern indigenous lifestyle to a broader audience.
Recent Projects
Alaska Airlines Xáat Kwáani (Salmon People) Aircraft
Crystal Worl designs Alaska Airlines aircraft taking Indigenous language and art to the skies. Xáat Kwáani is the first aircraft in the history of any domestic airline to be named in an Alaska Native language and to depict the ancestral importance through Northwest Coast formline art.
I have high hopes that this project will encourage people to embrace Indigenous culture and values. We have much to learn about this planet and it’s inhabitants including ourselves.
The salmon are incredibly intelligent beings. They navigate long distances to return home, so that they can spawn and provide for their offspring. Their bodies deliver nutrients for the next generation. They deliver nitrogen from deep waters to our land which has allowed the Tongass rainforest to become lush and its wildlife to grow big and strong. The salmon have been feeding and teaching us for a long time. It is significant that we see and hear them now more than ever.
My Grandpa Rudy Demientieff would bring his whole family to fishcamp every summer. The fish camp was between Galena and Ruby. He would get up early with his sons and check the fishwheel. He built his own fish trap and fishwheels. Him and my uncles would come back with over 100 fish, and my aunties would all cut fish in a processing line. The youngest would scale the white fish with a butter knife. The middle kids would cut off the head and gut the salmon. And the oldest would fillet, and the parents would cut into strips to smoke.my grandma Alice Demientieff had 10 kids. Lots of mouths to feed.! While at fish camp they would eat fish every day. Grandma knew 100s of ways to fix fish so no one would get tired of eating fish every day. The favorite was salmon patties made from salmon and mashed potatoes mixed together and fried.
It is with a heavy heart we haven’t been able to fish on the Yukon or the Kuskokwim for 3 years due to the lack of fish returning. We won’t be able to harvest again until the numbers get better. The younger generations are not learning these fishing and preserving skills that we have survived on for generations.
We must make change in our actions and thinking about our environment. This is the time to get creative with our solutions.
I want you to Imagine a triangle. One corner being Indigenous knowledge, the opposite corner modern day science. The third corner is where the two meet. Scientifically there is a lot to be studied & discovered. Historically we have coexisted with salmon for hundreds if not thousands of years. Culturally we are capable of putting our minds together.
I grew up in two worlds, the traditional world and the modern world. This has allowed me to be rooted and expansive with my art at the same time. My ancestors have always been resilient innovators. And we are innovating today with modern technology!
As people of the tide, Tlingit people and Alaskan native people, we don’t differentiate ourselves from animals. We are one of the same.
Want to learn more and make an impact?
Please CONSIDER donating to the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association.
The Yukon River is home to the longest salmon migration in the world. These salmon provide key dietary and cultural support for over forty-two rural Alaskan villages. For many families, the commercial salmon harvest provides the only means of income, and salmon provides a primary source of food for humans and the sled dogs that are integral to their subsistence way of life. YRDFA was created in 1990 to conserve these salmon runs by giving a voice to the people who have managed the resource for thousands of years.