In One Gray Hair, Alison Marks Explores the Tensions Between Tradition and Innovation

The contemporary Tlingit artist reaches all the way to space in her first solo exhibit.by Emily PothastI'm standing at the Frye Art Museum, face-to-face with a black vinyl alien head that's affixed to the wall like a giant sticker, its interior filled in with words as unfamiliar to me as distant galaxies. "Áa yaa sh nalxán," reads the text. Overhead, an audio recording gives voice to the words, interspersed with cosmic synth twinkles. "Ax tuyadaa Áx xat tukwgadáa shak