S2E12: Bobby Brower Itta (Inupiaq)

2023 Artist in Business Leadership fellow Bobby Brower Itta (Inupiaq) is a fashion designer whose Inupaq roots and artistic prowess have woven a tapestry of resilience and creativity. Bobbi Lynn shares her heartwarming narrative, which paints a vivid picture of the power of traditional and contemporary skin sewing, the sweeping cold of Arctic winters, and the vibrant tapestry of her culture. Her story celebrates heritage, the transformative nature of fashion, and the ripple effect of empowering indigenous youth to reach for their dreams.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
I do fashion because I want our youth.
I want them to believe inthemselves.
I want them to know that ourpeople are beautiful, our work
is amazing.
I want them to know that theycan go to New York, they can be
a model, they can do fashion,they can dress anyone they want,
they can design clothes Likeit's more than just being a kid

(00:25):
in the village, the world.
There's opportunities for us,as native people, to do anything
we want.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
First People's Fund presents the Collective Spirit
Podcast.
The Collective Spirit moveseach of us to stand up and make
a difference, to pass onancestral knowledge and simply
extend a hand of generosity.
The Collective Spirit Podcastfeatures native artists and
culture bearers who discuss thepower of indigenous art and

(01:09):
culture.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I'm Bobbi Lynn Palutakarok.
I'm a farmer and I'm a farmer.
I'm a Gordon Brower senior.
I'm Mary Jane Lang.
Hi, I'm Bobbi Lynn PalutakarokBrower.
I'm from Utkegawe, alaska,formally known as Barrow.
It's top of the world.

(01:33):
They consider it top of theworld.
Before this, you could go inthe United States.
I'm Inupak and my tribe is inthe village of Barrow, and my
parents are Gordon Brower andMary Jane Lang.
I have four children.
My kids names are Nancy, summer, Noah and Hannah.

(01:53):
My artistic medium istraditional and contemporary
skin sewing.
I also work with textiles and Imake jewelry.
I make all kinds of clothingand accessories.
I design clothing.
I'm an indigenous fashiondesigner.

(02:14):
I think that's everything.
I started skin sewing when I wasmaybe 12 years old, in seventh
grade.
I remember making a little toyowl and mittens.
Living in the Arctic, it'sfreezing cold.

(02:34):
In the winter it averages likenegative 30 with a negative 20
wind chill, so it averagesaround negative 50.
So you got to dress warm to beoutside.
When I got older, I had myfirst child.
I didn't have enough money tobuy my daughter a parka and so I

(02:54):
decided to learn how to skinsew and we actually have a top
of the world baby contest,making fur regalia for our
children and my aunt FlorenceBrower.
She was like you should enteryour baby into the baby contest,

(03:18):
I'll help you and I'll teachyou how to sew regalia.
And I was like, ok, sure, let'sdo it.
And so I started sewing skinsbefore I started using a sewing
machine.
So I did that for quite a fewyears and I kept entering this
baby contest and then a coupleof years later I entered my son.

(03:41):
He got third place and then Ibrought him to the World Eskimo,
indian Olympics and Fairbanksand he won first place for his
regalia.
People just really liked mysewing.
I started my small business in2010.
And then I did my first fashionshow and I think it was 2016
here in Anchorage at the AlaskaNative Heritage Center, and it

(04:03):
was like unconventionalmaterials and I ended up making
our traditional shirt that wemake, but I made it into a dress
and I made it out of a bluetarp and my model thought she
was gonna be cold and she wasjust sweating.
That's when I just fell in lovewith doing fashion shows.
Then, when something would comeup, I would apply for a show

(04:28):
and make a small collection.
I've done so many shows andI've taught a lot of classes and
, yeah, I just I really enjoywhat I do and I was blown away
when I got accepted for a artistin business leadership grant
and I was just so thankful andit was just awesome overall.

(04:53):
Working with First Peoples Fundand it still is I mean,
definitely feels like a familyand I feel accepted for the work
that I'm doing yeah, it'sreally great and I'm really
thankful for First Peoples Fund.

(05:20):
I had a few different goals.
I eventually just was using thefunds to purchase another fur
sewing machine, just so it's alittle bit easier on me when I'm
skin sewing.
So usually I skin sew by handand with the fur machine I have
one but a part of it broke so Ihaven't been using it for the

(05:45):
past like couple of years and soI was planning to purchase a
new machine and then, with therest of the funds, I was
purchasing some of my printedproduct to sell on hand and
extra furs to sell as well or tomake more parkas, just using
those funds to make moreinventory to sell and have on

(06:07):
hand.
I'm really inspired by ourplants, the ocean, our animals.
Yeah, I just really love theland and the water, everything.
I've been surrounded by my wholelife living a subsistence
lifestyle.
My dad is a whaling captain,his dad was a whaling captain

(06:31):
and his dad was a whalingcaptain and so on, and that's
how we survive, because up northwe have no trees, you can't
plant anything in the ground, sowe pretty much the ocean is our
garden and we stilltraditionally hunt bowhead

(06:56):
whales, walruses, seals, ducks,geese.
We still go fishing.
That's how we survived andwe're still doing it now because
the cost of living is soexpensive up north and we
traditionally hunt so that wecould offset the grocery prices.

(07:16):
But yeah, I've definitely beeninspired all my life just
watching my mom's can sell.
My grandmother she could make aparka in one day and she had 17
children.
So just growing up in thislifestyle we call it the village

(07:37):
.
The only way in and out is byplane.
My mother is a skin sewer.
She taught me some things, andthen my grandmother was my
great-grandmother and then mygreat-grandfather was from New
York and he actually was aYankee whaler and went up north

(08:00):
and was our first fur trader inBarrow or Calvic now, and then
my grandpa was a fur trader aswell.
Learning those skills andpassing them down.
To me, that's really important.
I feel like being a culturalbear is sharing your knowledge
and passing it down generationto generation, just like my aunt

(08:24):
and my mom taught me then.
Now I teach classes and also mychildren know how to work with
hives, they know how to skin, soI'm definitely passing it down.
I do fashion because I want ouryouth, I want them to believe
in themselves.
I want them to know that ourpeople are beautiful, our work

(08:45):
is amazing.
I want them to know that theycan go to New York, they can be
a model.
They can do fashion, they candress anyone they want.
They can design clothes Likeit's more than just being a kid
in the village, like the world.
There's opportunities for us asnative people to do anything we

(09:07):
want.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
The Collective Spirit podcast is produced by First
Peoples Fund, whose mission isto honor and support indigenous
artists and culture bearersthrough grant making initiatives
, culturally rooted programming,and training and mentorship.
Learn more atfirstpeoplesfundorg.