Native American Artist Rico Worl Designs U.S. Postage Stamp
Many people have returned to sending and receiving letter mail since the pandemic hit, from one pen pal match-making project out of New York City, to nursing homes reviving the art of lettermail.
It’s all the more reason to pay attention to stamps. Not any kind of stamps, but ones that make history, rightfully so.
The Alaskan artist Rico Lanáat’ Worl is the first member of the Tlingit tribe to design a U.S. postal stamp. This stamp, called “Raven Story” is part of the U.S. Postal Services’ Forever Stamps series, which is expected to be released in 2021.
“I designed a stamp for USPS, it depicts raven stealing the stars,” explained the artist on Instagram. The image shows a black raven flying through the sky among yellow stars and a shining full moon.
He explains: “I wanted to illustrate a moment of drama in a traditional Tlingit story. I like the relatability of the moment, a moment when you are on the cusp of accomplishment or failure when you are trying to balance so many factors at once.”
The Juneau-based Tlingit artist hopes the meaning behind the stamp will inspire people to learn more about his culture.
“I hope that they wonder, ‘Oh, what does this design mean? Where does it come from?’” said Worl in a recent interview. “And they look up the title of it and find the Raven story and then look, ‘What is the Raven story? Who are the Tlingit people?’”
The Raven story is a long-held myth in Northwest coast mythology and many First Nations cultures.
Raven The Trickster is a story about a mischievous bird who understands the eternal light of the universe is kept inside a box, which has been kept closed and locked away.
The bird is clever enough to convince an old man to open the box, revealing its light, and flies away, while spreading light through the world, scattering light through the galaxy, creating the Moon and the stars.
Ravens symbolize transformation of the world, often offering prophecy and insight. With 2020 as a pivotal year for the world, it makes sense that we're going through a transformation and will hopefully give birth to a new way of living as we approach 2021.
Though Native American subjects have been featured on U.S. postal stamps, from an 1898 stamp of a Native American hunting a buffalo, to depictions of Native Headdresses (Cheyenne, Flathead, Comanche and Shoshone) in 1990 and a stamp showing Navajo jewelry in 2004, among others.