'Gut fish, not Alaska': Totem pole ridicules Trump and Dunleavy

There’s a nonexistent approval rating for Gov. Mike Dunleavy and President Donald Trump in Tommy Joseph’s most recent pole.

Joseph, a Tlingit master carver who resides in Sitka, carved a totem pole meant to shame Trump and Dunleavy over the weekend, and it’s received some attention outside his home where it currently stands and on social media.

“I’m compelled, motivated and feel the need to say what I have to say,” Joseph said in an interview.

While the pole has contemporary subject matter in the sitting president and governor of Alaska, it’s made in the spirit of traditional shame or ridicule poles. Shame poles were totem poles meant to tell the story of a misdeed or unpaid debt.

Read more: https://www.juneauempire.com/news/gut-fish-not-alaska-totem-pole-ridicules-trump-and-dunleavy/