An exhibit at the Anchorage Museum spotlighting the history of Filipino Americans in Alaska was defaced with a crude sticker last week.
“Mana: The History We Inherit” is an oral history exhibit that spans more than 200 years of Filipino Americans’ time in the state. It features portraits and biographies of interview subjects, as well as numerous collages made of photo submissions from community members.
Shayne Nuesca, one of the creators of Mana, said one of the exhibit’s collage contributors noticed Thursday someone had tampered with it.
“They noticed right away that there was something different about the display of their late family member’s collage,” Nuesca said. “They noticed that it was a sticker. It was a sticker of a political and sexual nature.”
The community member texted the Mana creative team about the sticker and then told museum officials, Nuesca said. The Mana team was only told about the incident by the museum at noon the next day, she said.
In a statement, Anchorage Museum spokesperson Janet Asaro said there were similar stickers placed on museum furniture, walls and a large map of Alaska. The stickers were removed and did not cause permanent damage, Asaro said.
In her statement, Asaro also said that, like other public buildings, the museum has been a victim of similar vandalism in the past.
“We do take incidents like these very seriously and remain committed to the protection and integrity of the cultural installations and artworks in our care,” Asaro wrote.
But the Mana team is criticizing how well the museum protected its exhibit.
Joshua Branstetter, another creative lead for the project, said the team assured contributors all over the state – from Adak to Juneau and Fairbanks – that their personal mementos would be safe.
“We’re going to make sure this history is preserved. ‘Your family members, your photos, your items, they’re safe with us.’ We made them that promise,” Brandstetter said. “And for us to entrust that to the museum, there was an expectation that this would be treated the same as a pink bear that has a security guard on it.”
Branstetter was referencing an art piece by Paola Pivi of brightly colored polar bears.
Branstetter was also disappointed the museum went ahead with removing the stickers without notifying the Mana exhibit’s creators, he said.
“It feels like we weren’t kept in the loop when something that could have damaged the exhibit happened,” Brandstetter said. “And then also for it to be tampered after the fact, and for us not to be able to review that to be able to see, ‘OK, everything is fine.’”
Ultimately, the Mana team said they hope all exhibits are given equal respect and protection from the museum, especially those with strong cultural connections.
Tasha Elizarde, another member of the Mana team, said the contributor who reported the sticker regularly visited the exhibit to pay respects to their family member.
“This is kind of like the equivalent of going to the cemetery to visit your grandparent who had passed away very, very recently, and then seeing that someone had messed with the tombstone,” Elizarde said.
“MANA: The History We Inherit” is set to wrap up its run at the Anchorage Museum on January 28.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
