Native American mural, other property vandalized at Point Defiance Park

A mural made by a member of the Puyallup Tribe has been vandalized at Point Defiance Park.

Six of the panels making up the mural were found floating in Puget Sound on Monday. Two of the panels, including the centerpiece, were missing as of Wednesday.

“Vandalism is vandalism, but also this is the land of the Puyallup people” Puyallup Tribe cultural director Connie McCloud wrote in a statement. “It is not only an act of disrespect to the people today, but our ancestors.”

Workers from Metro Parks Tacoma were able to recover six panels that were in the water, said Metro Parks spokesperson Nancy Johnson. They appeared to be in good condition, possibly because they were made of waterproof materials.

It was still unclear whether there is structural damage to the artwork. Artist Anthony Duenas, a Tacoma resident and Puyallup tribal member, will inspect the panels next week.

It also was unclear if the two missing panels floated away or were potentially stolen.

The mural is entitled “syayayəʔ ʔə tiiɫ x̌ʷiqʷadiʔ pt.2 (Family of the Thunderbird)“ and was commissioned by the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma in 2018 for $8,000.

The central mural shows how the thunderbird created the Puyallup people and features depictions of the Puyallup’s ancestors, according to a description on the Metro Parks Tacoma website.

Another part of the mural, which remains missing, depicts the Puyallup people who would travel by canoe around the Point Defiance and Owen Beach area.

Temporary and permanent park signs also were destroyed in the vandalism, as was a dog-waste bag dispenser.

Johnson said that she was particularly disturbed by the vandalism given the significance of the art and the location but that “hearing everything that took place I think that it was nothing more than thoughtless destruction.”

The incident happened at the Owen Beach promenade, near the Point Defiance store.

The recovered pieces murals are being held in a Metro Parks Tacoma maintenance area.

Following standard procedure, Metro Parks Tacoma likely will be filing an incident report with the police, Johnson said. There were no security cameras at the location.

This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 10:00 AM.