These portraits are part of a longer project; Maktak and Gasoline – The People of Point Hope (2009-2017)
Point Hope is an Iñupiaq (Alaskan Inuit) village in the Arctic, on the Bering Strait. Spring is the most important time of the year because of Whaling. It does not only provide the necessary food, it is the time when the community pulls together. Point Hope, with its 900 inhabitants, is the second largest Iñupiaq coastal community in Arctic Alaska. Life is hard, and not only because of the harsh Arctic weather conditions. There is Twenty-four hours of darkness in wintertime, little work, limited future for young people, drugs, alcohol and domestic violence; to list some of the struggles. But then comes spring. The loose sand from which the community tries to hold itself together, becomes clay. Whaling, is not only about the food, it brings everyone together, it connects people to the roots of who they are, Tikigaqmiut, from Tikigaq, the original Iñupiaq name for the village of Point Hope (the name Point Hope was given by an explorer passing by in the 1900s). The Spirit of the Whale calls them, gives itself to them, and feeds their body and soul.
