Aan Yátx'u Sáani: Noble People of the Land

“WHEN THE SALMON SPOKE” story box

Experience the 1-minute trailer forWhen the Salmon Spoke here.

Experience the full production (90 minutes) here.

When the Salmon Spoke premiered in May 2020, presented by Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission and Ping Chong + Company, in collaboration with SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and Salmon Beyond Borders. A digital production featuring cinematic imagery, indigenous music and visual art, and captivating life stories from community members of the Stikine River, this project connects coastal Tlingit and Haida communities and inland Tahltan communities of Alaska and British Columbia.

In this story box, you’ll hear even more stories from the community members of When the Salmon Spoke, from Lingít Aaní and Tahltan Territory. This project is led by Tis Peterman (Tlingit/Tahltan), Annita McPhee (Tahltan/Tlingit), Kirby Muldoe (Gitxsan/Tsimsian), Heather Hardcastle, & Ryan Conarro. Creative Director & Producer is Ryan Conarro. Website design and web story archive by Sarah Campen & Ryan Conarro.

When the Salmon Spoke is part of Ping Chong + Company’s Undesirable Elements series of documentary theater works featuring people sharing their real stories onstage… adapted as a digital experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The creative collaborators of When the Salmon Spoke – now collectively known as the Salmon Speakers – have hosted virtual, cross-border conversations (“wauwaus”) after the production’s premiere (May 2020), as part of Salmon Nation’s Festival of What Works (December 2020), and in the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology Winter Colloquium Series (January 2021). If you’d like to follow the ongoing work of the Salmon Speakers, and to join future wauwaus, please sign up here.

Southeast Alaska and British Columbia First Nations map developed by Vancouver Island University.