On March 24th Serene Footman and Jade Koltai opened their newest sim named Ukivok. And again they take us to a place far away, a place I never heard of before, a place still exsistent but forgotten and abandoned. Ukivok is located on King Island, an island in the Bering Sea, around 64 km off the Alaskan coast, a rocky island that it just 2,5km long and 2,2km wide. It was once home for about 200 Inupiat, who lived there during the Winter months particularly for hunting and fishing on the ice. Since 1970 Ukivok is abandoned, but the stilt houses of the village are still there.
Impressions of Ukivok (1) – overview and landing point
Before you visit Ukivok, I strongly recommend that you visit Serene and Jade’s website and read the blog post about Ukivok: “Ukivok, and the People of the Sea“. Serene has collected a lot of information about Ukivok and the Inupiat, pictures of Ukivok and videos and some background information regarding how the Inupiat lived there, about their traditions as well as about why Ukivok was abandoned finally.
Impressions of Ukivok (2) – at the landing point
Ukivok in Second Life gave me an impression of the village in reality. There once were 2 larger buildings, a school and a church. The school does still exsist while the church has fallen apart. In SL you’ll find both buildings. High above the village there’s a statue of Christ the King, the Inupiat (they call themselves Aseuluk) were Catholics and this statue is also there in reality.
Impressions of Ukivok (3) – exploring the village / old school house (lower right)
In Ukivok in Second Life you’ll can also see an “Alaskan Stonehedge”, a completely natural group of single rocks and this is once again a feature of the real King Island. Last but not least the Inupiat had a ropeway to transport goods from or to the sea level. In Second life this ropeway is a bit longer, actually it is a zipline and added just for fun.
Impressions of Ukivok (4) – exploring the village / old church (lower right)
Walking through Ukivak is a challenge even in Second Life, but exploring in the virtual world is safe, you won’t get hurt, even when you fall. You have to look out how to get from one level of the village to the next, there are stairs and ladders. The small podests in from of half brocken houses offer a lot of opportunities to sit and enjoy, to listen to the sound of the many birds, which are the main inhabitants of Ukivok nowadays, or to simply inhale the particular atmosphere of this place.
Impressions of Ukivok (5) – statue of Christ the King, “Alaskan Stonehedge”, at the zipline
Impressions of Ukivok (6) – Diomita having fun sliding down the zipline / more impressions
I mainly used my personal standard windlight setting (Annan Adored Realistic Ambient) but I doesn’t reflect the uniqueness of Ukivok, the cold and the loneliness, well enough. I played a bit with other settings and added a few of these experimental pictures.
Ukivok – playing with the windlight settings
The blogpost about Ukivok is very instructive and being able to visit the village right after reading is an experience that you can only have in a virtual world like Second Life. Thank you Serene and Jade, you really make use of the possibilities of SL. Very impressive once again!
Landmark to Ukivok
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dulcis/227/118/22
Blogpost with all information about Ukivok
https://furillen.org/2019/03/24/ukivok-and-the-people-of-the-sea/
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/ukivok/
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