The sculpture by Iole Alessandrini is a microcosm of both the sky and Seattle. This project invites visitors to contemplate the interplay between the Raven and the Light and is a portal to the celestial universe, a place to discover the sky through SkyView® Lite, a free stargazing app.

This interactive display was inspired by the Raven 🐦‍⬛, a mystical creature of great significance. In the Bible, Noah released a raven to find a landing site after the great flood, but the bird never returned. A constellation called Corvus, or “The Raven,” dates back to ancient Greek and Roman times.

The 🐦‍⬛ is a central figure in most Native American cultures. It is seen as both the creator of light 💥and a trickster figure. As the maker of 💥, 🐦‍⬛ symbolizes the ultimate creator of all things that existed before the beginning.

The Trickster’s Gift: How Raven Stole the Light

He creates the world but is unable to give it 💥 or water 💧. Upon hearing that 💥 is hidden in a far-off land, 🐦‍⬛ decides to travel there and steal it. In the house of 💥, he finds a young woman and plays many tricks. He turns himself into a speck of dirt, slips into her drinking water, and is swallowed. The daughter becomes pregnant and gives birth to a fussy child 👶 who cries constantly and demands to touch one of the bundles hanging from the walls. To quiet him, the 👶 is given one of the bags, but when he tires of playing with it, he lets it go, and the bundle disappears through the smoke hole. Once it reaches the sky, it scatters stars ✨ across the sky. When the 👶 cries to have it back again, he is given the second bundle, and lets it float away through the hole in the ceiling, thus releasing the moon 🌝. This process repeats with the third and final bundle, which flies away and becomes sunlight ☀️. After bringing 💥 to the whole world, 🐦‍⬛ too flies out through the smoke hole.