Allison Atkootchkoot Warden, also known as Aku-Matu, presents a one-woman show, “Calling All Polar Bears,” at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 and 27 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center auditorium. Tickets are $15 general, $10 youth at Bunnell Street Arts Center and the Homer Bookstore. Warden visits Homer that week and does free outreach activities at West Homer Elementary School and Homer Middle School on Oct. 24.
An Inupiaq Alaska Native, Warden lives in Anchorage and has ties to her home community of Kaktovik. “Calling All Polar Bears” is a revised version of her earlier “Ode to the Polar Bear,” and examines from an indigenous perspective the issues of climate change, oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the fate of the polar bear. Warden raps under the name of Aku-Matu, creating rhymes that sample traditional sounds and use her Inupiaq language.