Beginning in the fall of 2021, I was invited to join the Native Village of Eklutna on a salmon spawning survey as part of field studies to support the restoration of the Eklutna River. This initiated what has become a multi-site investigation into the co-creation of restored habitats and restored ways of being. As an Indigenous man whose family is separated from our homelands and cultural practices, much of my construction of self and ways of being have been hosted on the lands of other Indigenous peoples. This process is also upheld by a commitment to responsibility as a guest on these lands, which I first found fulfillment in during my work on the Eklutna River in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Walking along the river and watching closely for every salmon or sign thereof invoked a potent practical form of hope, and envisioning a restored and reconstructed future. I found this experience to be reflected in the images I made on these trips. This dynamic continued when I began making work on the Klamath River, the site of the largest river restoration project in North American history. In addition to the more formal investigations listed above, I have begun to associate my more personal images with the same motives driving the prior work. When my freezer ices over in a winter storm, when my father picks through discarded fish guts for bait, or an injured butterfly lands in my driveway, the same questions of animacy, responsibility, and relationality come to the forefront. My hope is that together, these images create insight into the questioning of place and belonging, and the answers which filter through.

Archival Inkjet Prints