Tuvaq- Edge of the Ice

Far out on the ice, under the never-setting sun of Arctic spring, time evaporates. The mind calms and you begin to inhale the world around you: the cold, the wind, the ice, the quiet, the wait. But underneath the damper of stillness, life boils. Out on the tuvaq--the expansive interface of sea and ice--everything happens. On the tuvaq, the whale breaches. The walrus is harpooned. The maktaq is eaten. The hunters watch the horizon. We wait. There is no need for words. The mind is still. Tuvaq - Edge of the Ice is an exploration of the stillness and quiet mystery that envelopes and defines life on the sea ice.

Kiliii Yuyan is an indigenous Nanai/Hézhè & Chinese-American photographer and filmmaker. He has contributed award-winning features for National Geographic Magazine, TIME, NPR, and the BBC. On assignment, he has fled collapsing sea ice, weathered botulism from fermented whale blood, and found kinship at the edges of the world. Kiliii is also a National Geographic Expeditions Expert for the Arctic. He is based out of Seattle.