First USPS Stamp Designed by Alaska Native Spotlights Tlingit Lore
Original art by Rico Lanáat’ Worl.
The Tlingit nation (“People of the Tides” in the Tlingit language) is indigenous to the US Pacific Northwest, and its art features some of the most iconic motifs associated with Native American cultural production. Cedar poles and canoes, as well as shamanic objects and adornments, are all known to feature carved and painted formline representations of important totem animals, including the raven, wolf, bear, eagle, and others.
Now, for the first time in recorded history, the U.S. Postal Service has debuted a stamp designed by an Alaska Native person: Tlingit and Athabascan artist Rico Lanáat’ Worl. Worl is a well-established working artist with his own art and accessory brand, Trickster Company, as well as a teacher and social designer with Juneau-based Alaska Native arts nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute.
