Here is a picture story from my trip to Kaktovik in September. To read the story I wrote for Al Jazeera America about climate change and polar bears, click here.
The lovely Flora Rexford, Kaktovik teacher, and me. Flora was our host in Kaktovik.
I woke up in Flora Rexford’s classroom my first morning in Kakovik, under a flock of paper swans.
A drawing on the board in Flora Rexford’s classroom, showing how a whale is butchered
Whale meat or “muktuk” vaccum sealed for preservation, was defrosting in the classroom sink
Subsistence foods in the fridge in Flora Rexford’s classroom
The school in Kaktovik has this little pool.
Flora Rexford’s nephew Edwin Solomon, who is 8, showed me these sweet Halloween costume talons
Guess which one of us isn’t from Kaktovik?
Tracy Burns, 20, took us for a drive. That’s Russian raccoon on her ruff.
This fence is meant to keep the snow drifts down in the village
At the old cemetery in Kaktovik
Sweet kid’s hot rod.
Whale meat drying in a yard, a kid’s ball
Presbyterian church in Kaktovik.
Flora Rexford and her niece, Mariah.
That’s Don Burns, who runs Arctic Chalet Tours, taking people out on the water to view polar bears.
Sow and her cubs swim in the water off Barter Island.
A mother polar bear and her cubs emerge from the water near the whalebone pile
Mother and cub emerge from the water near the whale bone pile
Polar bear in the water.
Bear at the whale bone pile
Don Burns catches a ride back to town.
Ruby Kaleak, 23, is one of the city’s polar bear patrollers. She showed me a picture of her great, great, great grandma, who her family calls Eve. Eve inspired her tattoos.
Marie Rexford showing me her mittens
This is the skin of one of the polar bears who tried to raid the Rexford’s ice cellar
Part of Marie Rexford’s object collection
Whaling harpoon in the Rexford’s shed.
Here is the buoy that is attached to the harpoon. Once the whale is hit, the buoy follows it.
A knife for butchering whale in the Rexford’s shed.
This is the Rexford family ice cellar, cut into the permafrost. It’s a couple generations old and one of the only ones left in the village. Many of them have flooded as the permafrost has melted. If you look close, you can see a little bit of frozen muktuk
Here’s me and Katie on the back of Marie Rexford’s four-wheeler.
Cutie riding in her mom’s coat.
The gym is the place hang before school. Betty Brower, 9, and Flossie Lampe, 10, showed me their moves.
Flora Rexford’s middle name is tattooed on her neck. It is also her grandmother’s name. They share characteristics, she says.
Every kid in the village has cool sneakers. These belong to Austin Kayoutuk.
This is how much coffee costs along the Beaufort Sea.
Waldo Arms Hotel. This is where you go to hear what’s going on around town.
A hot meal in Kaktovik isn’t cheap. This is the menu at Waldo Arms, one of two hotels restaurants.
We were stuck there, so we figured we might as well play some bingo. Here is my bingo paper.
Bingo at the community hall on Thursday nights
This guy was seriously fast at rippies in the community hall.
Betty Brower, 81, has watched the warming climate change life in the village
Betty Brower’s parakeets.
My partner in crime, photographer Katie Orlinsky.
Kyle Campbell, of Arctic Treks, helped us get a seat on this plane when we couldn’t get a commercial flight out for days. Thanks Kyle!
