Private Story
Kivalina_PRIVATE
Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing coastal erosion due to climate change that is changing the shape of the village indefinitely. The roughly 380-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has been said to have a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Already, the village has experienced serious changes as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. Food supplies are changing; it is now dangerous to hunt for whale, a staple in subsistence-based cultures like Kivalina. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier.
A new location has been selected for the new school about 8 miles away, and so this project, which will continue through the decision to relocate as well as during and after the relocation itself, seeks to document this place both to bring awareness to the issues of Alaska's indigenous coastal people as well as to document a place that is changing rapidly.
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