Taslaska

Published on 06 August 2020

TASLASKA is an idea brought about after a conversation between the Anchorage Museum in Alaska and the Burnie Regional Art Gallery.  

Burnie City Council Mayor Steve Kons said “In a time when were are physically distanced we are looking to make connections where we didn’t look before. This is a project to underline the similarities rather than differences with our very distant neighbours in Alaska.  This is a project for young people ages 12- 19 living in Tasmania and Alaska to share stories, photographs and short videos about their life and home.” 

“North West Tasmania is surprisingly similar to Alaska – we are remote from the mainland, we have beautiful wild places, extreme landscapes, shipping, mining, forestry, and we even share migratory birds.” 

People in regional communities are often more aware of changes in their social or natural environment than their urban cousins and they better are able to adapt.  In these ways we are connected rather than remote from each other. With TASLASKA, we connect Tasmania and Alaska.  Young people aged 12 – 19 years are invited to contribute to this project through social media platforms or a virtual zine, hosted by the Anchorage Museum in Alaska and Project O and the Burnie Regional Art Gallery. 

Participants can send videos, photos, audio interviews, portraits, illustrations, animations, poems or other portrayals of their place and spaces.  On social media tag #Taslaska or for the zine, send entries to 

[email protected] with your name, age, city, and any statement you want to include.  By submitting, participants agree to have their entries shared on social media and in the virtual zine.  For more information please contact the Gallery on [email protected] or check out our social media platforms.  

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery is an initiative of Burnie City Council and is assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts. The Gallery is open free to the public from 10 am to 4.30 pm on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays until further notice. Visitors will be asked to sign in on entry because the Gallery is required to capture the names and contact details of visitors to the gallery to comply with local, state and commonwealth regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.