Heartfelt Work Gets Recognized
Woohoo! We scored the cover of the FIRST ever Alaska Native Culture Guide
May 2022, my sister Roselyn (Yup'ik) shared that the Alaska Travel Industry Association was looking for photo submissions that represented Alaska Native culture. She thought I could enter some photos of her that I had taken a few years earlier and a few other photos I had taken over the years. The deadline for photo submission was a few weeks out so I asked if she wanted to update her photos and it all went UPhill from there.
The day before the scheduled shoot, Roselyn asked if her friend Mercedes (Unangax̂/Yup'ik) could join us as she had just finished sewing together her regalia. I could not have been more excited to say YES. What resulted were some of my favorite images of all time.
I would like to thank both of them for modeling for me and have ensured that they were properly compensated for their part in this meaningful project. Roselyn has bought or been gifted much of her regalia which easily totals over 100 hours of work and Mercedes put in over 100 hours of work into her regalia. To all of our Alaska Native culture bearers who made this image possible, quyana!
Check the rest of the album out here! Images are available for sale.
