Pink sky above mountains and valley.

After living most of my adult life in the Pacific Northwest, I was invited to photograph Greenland in 2017, and my life changed completely. I fell under the spell of the high arctic, and knew that this was where I had to live. In 2018 I had an artist residency in Svalbard, and a few months later at a time when most people my age are thinking about retirement and grandchildren, I packed seven suitcases, and moved to Longyearbyen, which is on the archipelago of Svalbard also known as Spitsbergen.

The high arctic is a land of extremes. It is stark, beautiful, and unforgiving. It is a place where you realize humanity is not the measure of all things. In a land where night lasts for three months, the first sunrise can bring you to year knees. After three months of unrelenting sun, the first true sunset can make you weep with joy. It is one of the last true wild places. If we lose the arctic, not only do we endanger humanity’s survival as well destroying innumerable other species, but I believe we lose our soul. In the Arctic, you know how small you are. As the human world becomes louder, brighter, and more dangerous, more than ever we need to remember that we are also part of nature, not separate or above it.