newtok | Bering sea, Alaska

Globally, an estimated 1.4 billion people may have to relocate due to rising seas by 2060—but Newtok, Alaska, must move now. Built on a delta at the edge of the Bering Sea, this small Yup’ik village faces extraordinary environmental catastrophe as a result of melting permafrost, river erosion and decaying infrastructure. To keep their culture and community intact, the 360 Yup’ik residents of Newtok must relocate their entire village to stable ground while struggling against a federal government that has failed to take meaningful action to combat our rapidly changing climate. In moving their village, they will become some of America’s first climate-change-refugees. This photography series was documented over a 6-month period in Newtok, AK in 2019 as part of a feature-length documentary production called NEWTOK.