Jangu Yagheli – Today I am Well

Dena’ina Athabaskan artist Bunny Swan Gease’s wellness poster “Jangu Yagheli” combined intricate, hand-drawn designs and ten “good ways” for Cook Inlet Housing Authority’s Elder residents to practice self care during extended times of isolation. Through daily reminders written in Dena’ina and English languages Bunny Swan Gease was able to engage and connect to others with empathy, compassion, and humor. “In consideration of what are the greatest needs of our Elders… it is love, respect, companionship, support, understanding, and human contact. Many Elders are already isolated from others. Now with the complications of COVID, this has become an even greater challenge.”, Bunny said of her project.

Bunny’s Jangu Yagheli project was inspired by her own experience caring for her great aunt until her passing in 2012. “Though Aunty is now passed from our life, her daily lessons continue to imbue our connection to Elders in our community, as well as our own parents now in their later elder years. In our experience, a simple daily routine frees the mind to the deeper messages and meanings of life, and to an awareness of the opportunity of laughter in the nuisances of shared experience, in its pains and joys.” 

Bunny Swan Gease’s wellness poster was printed and distributed to Centennial Village residents and displayed in common areas of multiple residential housing units in September of 2020. 

To learn more about Indigenous Alaskan artist Bunny Swan Gease visit www.bunnyswan.com