This Is Our Arctic photography exhibit featured in Arctic Image Festival!

This Is Our Arctic, a collection of photographs of climate change taken by youth in Old Crow and Inuvik, has been on the move! After exhibiting in Whitehorse for almost a month, the photographs travelled to Inuvik at the end of February. There, the youth we visited last October had a chance to show off their photographs to their own community.

The photographs arrived at the right time. The Arctic Image Festival, which ran from February 28 to March 2 in Inuvik, brought up photographers and judges from across Canada and the north. The photographs from This Is Our Arctic were displayed as part of the festival, which was set up in the school gym for the weekend.

Alexa and Faith, two youth from Inuvik who participated in our workshop, decided to enter photographs they had taken with BYTE to the youth photography section. Alexa’s photos of two posts rising out of the ground due to melting permafrost struck the judges. The image, which is both compositionally interesting and speaks to the dramatic effects of climate change in Inuvik, won first prize in the Youth Photography section.  Alexa was an enthusiastic participant when we ran our workshop in October, and she’s only ten years old. This photography award is a huge accomplishment for her, and we hope she continues to take photos of her community.

Alexa’s award-winning photograph

We’re so excited and proud that the images are being shared and recognized for their message and quality. The judges from the Arctic Image Festival came from Ottawa, New Brunswick, and Yellowknife, and we’re hoping they bring home messages about the photographic talents of northern youth. You can read more about the Inuvik youth’s photographs in the Northern Journal.

And that’s not all! This Is Our Arctic will head south this spring. We’re looking forward to opening the exhibit at the ArtStarts Gallery in downtown Vancouver this summer. Stay tuned for more details about this exhibition!