Congratulations to Dillingham artist Apayo Moore on her receipt of the 2010 Alaska Native Visionary award. The award recognizes and honors Alaskan Natives who are perpetuating and preserving culture through film, photography, music, visual and literary art, performance art and more.

Apayo, 26, is an outreach and education professional for the non-profit organization Nunamta Alukestai, which in Yupik means Caretakers of the Land. Together with Trout Unlimited Alaska and many other organizations and individuals, Nunamta Alukestai is engaged in efforts to protect Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine which could devastate the region’s wild salmon runs.

An accomplished painter and graphic artist, Apayo was raised in Bristol Bay in the communities of Twin Hills and Dillingham. Through her painting, she has led community mural projects in towns throughout the state of Alaska including Bethel, Juneau, and Dillingham. She has also guided children through various art projects at Summer Salmon Camp in Dillingham and art projects held at special outreach events.

In addition to Apayo’s beautiful large-scale paintings, her canvases exude and convey the work of one who has a deep-rooted connection to the environment she was reared in. Subsistence fish and game feature prevalently in her work as they are interconnected to the lives lead by the people in her world. Along with this profound link that is so apparent in her paint is a great sense of fun, which is also quite evident in her personality.

“For such a young woman, Apayo has accomplished much and exhibited a strong sense of leadership to many. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed and I am happy that Apayo’s talent and passion have been recognized by the Alaska Native Visionary Award committee,” said Melanie Brown, a Naknek set netter and Bristol Bay outreach contractor for Trout Unlimited Alaska

Apayo says she feels that her work involves “spreading the word of our ancestors to protect our land from greed.”