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Sella Bay was a village known as Sidya prior to Spanish colonization

What is today known as Sella Bay was a village known as Sidya prior to Spanish colonization.

During the Spanish CHamoru Wars in the 17th century, Sidya sided with the Spanish against its neighbor Aty, which was located where Cetti Bay is today. Sidya was notable at the time for being one of the few villages where the Spanish explicitly acknowledged the power of a Maga’håga, or a woman who held political sway over men.

Following the end of the wars, CHamorus were forced to leave Sidya along with most other villages in Guam and settled into new villages where the Spanish could more easily watch over them. This was something carried out in all the islands of the Marianas except for Rota.  

Until the 19th century the southern village of Humåtak was the main port of entry for ships to the island. Because of this a road was built connecting Hagåtña the capital with Humåtak along the southwestern coast of Guam. That road required the building of several bridges, one of which still stands at Sella Bay.

In the 1970s the US military began negotiations with the Government of Guam over the taking of Sella Bay in order to build an ammunition wharf. A diverse coalition of educators, political leaders and young community activists voiced their opposition to the use of this area which contained ancient artifacts of CHamoru life and was a favorite hiking destination. The protests were successful and the wharf was built in Apra Harbor instead.  

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In her first solo show, Julia Birn presents Chewing on Static. She regards this body of work as an exploration of what it means to live in a life that no longer feels entirely familiar. Ms. Birn uses her work as a way to consider what happens when something changes the way one moves through the world, the relationship with oneself, and understanding of the future, as a result of chronic illness. Her paintings emerge from this unresolved experience, giving shape to the feeling of living with something that cannot always be explained or communicated. Through abstraction, fragmentation, and restricted palettes, the works hold onto that tension, allowing forms to shift and remain ambiguous. What emerges is a reflection of what it is like to live with a reality that has become difficult to recognise. The title of the exhibit, Chewing on Static speaks to the mental noise that comes from searching for clarity, questioning one's own experience, and trying to communicate something that refuses to become simple or certain. It is about what happens when one is forced to construct a new understanding of oneself and continue living within something that is unchosen. Through her work, Birn asks the viewer to enter a space where certainty is difficult to find, and to sit with what cannot be resolved. Julia Birn is an accomplished artist, graphic designer, and entrepreneur, who has participated in multiple large and small group shows in Guam since 2022. She has recently earned her BFA in graphic design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Summa Cum Laude. Follow her on Instagram @deafeningsilenceco or contact via email at deafeningsilenceco@gmail.com

Chewing on Static

Chewing on Static https://www.guammuseumfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Chewing-on-Static-INSTAGRAM_4K_H265.mov The next exhibit opening October 24, 2026 at the Guam Museum Cafe Gallery. In her first solo show, Julia Birn presents

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