Ruth
Scott
Łchav’aya K’isen
Miller
ALASKA-BASED MULTIMEDIA ARTIST, DENA’INA CULTURE BEARER, CLIMATE ACTIVIST
ABOUT RUTHRuth Łchavaya K’isen Miller is a Dena'ina Athabaskan and Ashkenazi Jewish woman, raised in Dgheyay Kaq, Alaska. She is a member of the Curyung Tribe of Dillingham, though her family is from Kijik village from the Lake Clark region. She graduated from Brown University, receiving a BA in Development Studies with a focus on Indigenous resistance. She has worked many years towards climate justice and regenerative economies, including international advocacy, national policy leadership and local community roles. She served as Climate Justice Director for Native Movement for a number of years, is a founding member of the Fireweed Collective, a statewide alliance of politically-minded young Alaskans. Ruth is a daughter, an aunty, a public speaker, a language learner, a traditional beadworker, and a singer.
Now she turns her energies toward ancestral healing, time on the land, and cultural arts as she intertwines advocacy with self-expression, spiritual exploration, and liberatory joy.
Explore and learn more about her arts, artistic context and background below.
“Nan”
Story Portraits Series
2013, graphite on paper
portrait with relatives of Nan
Battle Armor Series
Dentalium shell hairpiece in conversation with Youth4Climate
2021, Dentalium shells, copper wire, dyed leather, sea glass
"Endi'ina ya bach'a'ina? Where have our relatives gone?"
Battle Armor Series
Shown in protest at the 2022 Arctic Encounters Far North Fashion Show
2022, fabric collage, dyed leather
Project Statement:
"More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence, and more than 1 in 2 have experienced sexual violence. Alaska Native women continue to suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assault and have reported rates of domestic violence up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the United States. These rates rise in Alaska near imported labor camps that service development sites--often called "man camps" -- where Native women disappear and are violated at alarming rates. These sites also leach pollutants and toxins into the surrounding food systems and communities, causing respiratory illnesses, cancers, developmental defects, and infertility in nearby villages. Alaska oil and mineral extraction are a direct threat to the safety and health of Alaska Native women. Alaska Native bodies and lands are sacred, and are worth far more than oil or gold."
“There is infinite beauty in learning ancient ways: something old, something refined, something passed down by small, steady, guided motions. Our arts are encyclopedias of our world.”
Ruth Miller • Artist, Activist, Writer
excerpt from forthcoming piece for the Museum of International Folk Art
Artist Statement
My artwork has spanned many mediums including graphite and charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, photo collage, and traditional regalia materials including hide, beads, dentalium and quills. Currently I am interested in the intersection of these mediums to communicate the nexus of Indigenous tradition, contemporary social issues, and new and revelatory solutions. My artwork is highly responsive to advocacy issues that threaten the lands, waters, and traditional lifeways of my homelands.
Through my climate advocacy, I have sought not just an artistic outlet for myself, but to connect and collaborate through artwork as a means of expressing climate grief, community, and the contemporary resurgence of traditional Alaska Native lifeways that will bring healing to the crisis at hand. My artwork is deeply informed by my professional advocacy work as an Indigenous climate justice leader of over ten years. My current theme of work bridges performance and activism, challenging expected norms and bringing attention to the underrepresentation of Indigenous voices in decision-making and governance.
All my work is performed with care, imbued with prayer, and echoes my values as a Dena’ina woman.
(extended Artist statement and Artist CV available on About page)
Ongoing Visual and Wearable Arts Projects
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I draw on inspiration from home to create traditionally-inspired wearable pieces that I then bring into specific contentious political spheres–sparking conversation and reflection on inclusion, impact and injustice.
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I trace the storied faces of impactful Elders, recently passed, as I honor the lives and lessons they have passed on. I explore each wrinkle as a testament to their enduring legacy and spend time sending them onwards with love.
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“When I sew my seed beads into moose hide, my hands resonate with the motions of ancestors before me. But this practice was hard fought. It did not come to me naturally, but had to be chased after, interrogated, explored.” Excerpt from forthcoming publication
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I have been trained in traditional Western arts and have explored mediums of oil paint, acrylic paint, watercolor paint, charcoal and ink. Shared here are some limited studies and explorations. CV available on the About page.
Revitalizing Hide Tanning
The art of traditional caribou and moose hide tanning has been resurging in our young Alaska Native community in the urban community of Anchorage. Over the past years we have built welcoming spaces for healing and conversation on nearly lost arts and the access inequities of Native peoples living in urban centers. Our Elders, with support and love, have come forward to begin teaching us traditional practices of brain tanning hides, often accompanied by cultural and language learning. This has transformed into an opportunity for collective intergenerational healing and community mutual aid.
“Ruth & Kengo” musical duo
Ruth Miller & Kengo Nagaoka are a singer/guitarist duo from Dgheyay Kaq’ (Anchorage). They first met and nurtured their musical partnership through the community of Alaskans fighting for environmental justice and Indigenous rights. They perform locally in Anchorage and will soon be releasing their debut original album. Their music speaks of love, resilience, and healing and is influenced by soul, RnB, jazz, and folk music traditions.