TO BECOME A PERSON by Ash Adams

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL...fsky, 18, looks on./ ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018: Courtney Lestenkof takes a selfie while Claire Greene, 16, curls her hair and Jaycee Bourdofkofsky, 18, looks on./ ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL...the day before prom./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018: Male students of Mount Edgecumbe High School receive haircuts from volunteers on the day before prom./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL...ting ready for prom./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018: Kaisa Kotch, 14, hugs Courtney Lestenkof, 16, after getting ready for prom./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL... and head into prom./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018: Students of Mount Edgecumbe High School take photos and head into prom./ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, O... first state title./ ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, October 7, 2017: The Barrow Whalers warm up together during half-time during the playoffs game against Nikiski at Cathy Parker Field. If they win this game, they will go to the state champtionship the following weekend in Palmer, Alaska and compete for their first state title./ ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, S...ce in the playoffs./ ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, September 23, 2017: Azara-Lee Leavitt on Cathy Parker Field during the Whalers' game against Houston. Assistant coach Taylor Masterson says that he kept telling the team that if they beat Houston, they would be in the playoffs. The team was statistically positioned to beat Valdez the next week, so this game, to him, was the hurdle to overcome to secure a place in the playoffs./ ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, S...e against Houston. / ASH ADAMS

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - Saturday, September 23, 2017: The team warms up in the bus during halftime in the Whalers' game against Houston. / ASH ADAMS

ARCTIC VILLAGE - Sunday, August...g a successful hunt./ASH ADAMS

ARCTIC VILLAGE - Sunday, August 19, 2018: Ezias and Edwardexamine the gun they'll be using while taking a break while they head up the mountain to hunt for ground squirrels. The squirrels are usually prepared over a fire and then given to elders in the village, something that Daniel says he used to do when he was younger. Several days after this, Daniel dies in a fourwheeling accident following a successful hunt./ASH ADAMS

ARCTIC VILLAGE - Thursday, Augu... before his death. / ASH ADAMS

ARCTIC VILLAGE - Thursday, August, 30, 2018: William John, Nina's brother, singes a bird over a fire in preparation for the funeral feast. The birds, fish, and caribou to be served at the family meal was all hunted by Daniel before his death. / ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA --Friday, Octobe... walking here."/ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA --Friday, October 26, 2018: Penelope Charles, 13, and Charlotte Charles, 15, outside of the school in Newtok, Alaska. Newtok is one of several Alaska Native villages that needs to relocate due to coastal erosion caused by climate change. The teens say that it's hard to imagine leaving their current location, even though they know they need to move. "We don't want to leave this place--we grew up here," Charlotte Charles says. "We have made lots and lots of memories here. We're best friends--we've made lots of memories walking here."/ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA -- Friday, Octob... by climate change. /ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA -- Friday, October 26, 2018: Debris from homes rests in the waters off the coast of Newtok, Alaska. Newtok is one of several Alaska Native villages that needs to relocate due to coastal erosion caused by climate change. /ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - APRIL 15, 20...ing the 410 outside./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - APRIL 15, 2017: Sakkan looks through a 410 shotgun outside of the cabin, about 20 miles outside of Kivalina, Alaska. It's a day that's too windy to go out whaling, so Sakkan asked his father, whaling captain Reppi Swan, if he could pass the time by practicing shooting the 410 outside./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - APRIL 15, 20...sweep out the cabin./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - APRIL 15, 2017: Sakkan holds two ptarmigan wings inside the cabin on a day that was too windy to go out whaling. A couple of nights before, his father, whaling captain Reppi Swan, had killed several ptarmigan which the crew then fried for dinner. They kept the wings to use as brooms to sweep out the cabin./ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA --Friday, Octobe...l in Newtok, Alaska./ASH ADAMS

NEWTOK, ALASKA --Friday, October 26, 2018: Handprint in the freezer after NYO (Native Youth Olympics) practice in the gym at the school in Newtok, Alaska./ASH ADAMS

The wall in whaling captain Rep... 20 miles outside of Kivalina.

The wall in whaling captain Reppi Swan's family cabin, about 20 miles outside of Kivalina.

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -Saturday, Ma...s cultural heritage./ASH ADAMS

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -Saturday, March 3, 2018: Jerrilyn Wellert, 18, looks at her finished tattoo. Wellert, who is mother to a four-year-old son, said that she wanted to get it to show that she is proud of being Inupiaq. She says that she has carried shame over not having fluency in her language even though growing up in a village, and that this represents a commitment to teach her son to have pride in his cultural heritage./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL... dance at the prom./ ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018: Students of Mount Edgecumbe HIgh School dance at the prom./ ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - FRIDAY, APRIL 6...ght during the week./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018: Students embrace during the nightly hugging circle between the boys and girls dorms at Mount Edgecumbe. Hugging cirlce takes place right before bed each night during the week./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SUNDAY, APRIL 8...gecumbe High School./ASH ADAMS

SITKA, ALASKA - SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2018: Students hug on the steps of one of the dormitories at Mount Edgecumbe High School./ASH ADAMS

SAINT PAUL, ALASKA — Tuesday, D... able to escape their abusers.

SAINT PAUL, ALASKA — Tuesday, December 19, 2017: Sonia Merculief, 17, puts on make-up in her family's home before heading out to the Christmas program at the community center. Sonia's mother, Stacey, was a victim of domestic violence for years before she was able to escape with her children. Women in small communities like Saint Paul are rarely able to escape their abusers.

SAINT PAUL, ALASKA — Monday, De...h social and health programs./

SAINT PAUL, ALASKA — Monday, December 18, 2017: Some of the community gathers at Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Chuch to observe the eve of the feast day of St. Nicholas, during which gifts are given to the children in the community. The history of Saint Paul is complicated to say the least; Aleut people were originally brought to the island as slaves by the Russians during the fur trade. Then, when the U.S. purchased Alaska, they became wards of the state, and essnetially continued to live on as slaves. After a history of slavery, displacement and then the boarding school era, Saint Paul now struggles with serious side effects of cultural trauma. The tribe estimates that 90% of the relationships in the 400-person community suffer from domestic violence. The tribe, after creating a fiscal structure that encourages more economic stability for the island, is working to address the domestic violence and sexual assault epidemic through social and health programs./

Spetember 2018: Walter Naokpuk,...Sinnok, in Shishmaref, Alaska.

Spetember 2018: Walter Naokpuk, Elliott Olana, Norman Sinnok, in Shishmaref, Alaska.

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -- Thursday, ...t to sue the state. /ASH ADAMS

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -- Thursday, June 6, 2019 : Marvin Roberts in his home in Fairbanks, Alaska. Roberts is a member of the Fairbanks Four, a group of four men who were wrongfully imprisoned for the death of John Hartman in 1997. Once an eyewitness came forward in 2012 that implicated another man in the mruder, the state offered the men a deal that they could be released immediately if they signed an agreement forfeiting their right to sue the state. /ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jared Norton ...ce has been frozen.//ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jared Norton rides his bike across the lagoon in Kivalina, Alaska on November 5, 2016. Late in the year, this is the first weekend that the ice has been frozen.//ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - November 4, ...he industrialized culture of t

KIVALINA, ALASKA - November 4, 2016: Breanna Adams, 13, holds her nephew Esun Stone, 2, out the window to get some fresh air and sunshine on a sunny winter day. Breanna wears a mask from Halloween, just for fun, she said./ASH ADAMS Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of t

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jared Norton ...re of the U.S.; families subsi

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jared Norton buchers a caribou with the help of a few adolescents in October 2015. Subsistence hunting is a common cultural practice in Kivalina; caribou, seal, and walrus are all staples.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.; families subsi

David Adams eats his grandmothe...s hotcakes everyday for lunch.

David Adams eats his grandmother Lucy Adams' hotcakes in her home in Kivalina in July 2017. Lucy makes hotcakes everyday for lunch.

Carlos Sage plays with the Chuk...nning water in Kivalina except

Carlos Sage plays with the Chukchi sea in October 2015.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.; families subsist off of the land but also off of food stamps. They receive healthcare through the IHS and also Medicaid. There is no running water in Kivalina except

KIVALINA, ALASKA: A wall in Luc...trialized culture of the U.S.;

KIVALINA, ALASKA: A wall in Lucy Adams' home in Kivalina, Alaska. Families in Kivalina stay connected with CB radios, like the one shown here. In most homes, the hum of voices on the radio is an almost constant backdrop.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.;

Isabelle Booth holds her 2-mont...hcare through the IHS and also

Isabelle Booth holds her 2-month-old grandson, Ezekiel Mark, in her home in Kivalina, Alaska in November 2016.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.; families subsist off of the land but also off of food stamps. They receive healthcare through the IHS and also

KIVALINA, ALAKSA - October 3, 2...in Kivalina, Alaska./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALAKSA - October 3, 2015: A bicycle and caribou hide in Kivalina, Alaska./ASH ADAMS

Charla Adams, 9, holds up a duc...lso Medicaid. There is no runn

Charla Adams, 9, holds up a duck on the beach in Kivalina, Alaska in November 2016.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.; families subsist off of the land but also off of food stamps. They receive healthcare through the IHS and also Medicaid. There is no runn

Paula Evans, 11, and her mother...foods from the reef./ASH ADAMS

Paula Evans, 11, and her mother, Ann Evans, on the reef in Nanwalek at low-tide. Ann and Paula regularly harvest bidarki, octopus, and different foods from the reef./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - July 4, 2017...nter, snow machines./ASH ADAMS

KIVALINA, ALASKA - July 4, 2017 : The community of Kivalina, Alaska participates in the Honda Float Parade on the Fourth of July. Kivalina is a village of about 400-people about 83 miles above the Arctic Circle. The village is not accessible by road, and so during the summer months, the primary mode of transit is four-wheelers and boat, and in the winter, snow machines./ASH ADAMS

Fourwheel tracks on the beach i...ere is no running water in Kiv

Fourwheel tracks on the beach in Kivalina, Alaska in November 2016.//ASH ADAMS//Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025. Already, the village has experienced serious changes to food supplies as a result of the Arctic's rapid warming. It is difficult to hunt for whale due to changes in the ice, and tomcod runs have been inconsistent. The ice is freezing later in the year and breaking up earlier. The village has already selected a new location 8 miles away where it will move, but this comes at a high cost, and it is uncertain how this will be funded. While the village will be uninhabitable in the near future, Kivalina still has not yet been declared a federal disaster area and therefore cannot access funds that would be made available through FEMA through this designation. This seems partially a result of inexperience; it takes time for government to develop protocols for effectively dealing with situations like these, and although climate change isn’t exactly new, Kivalina and two other Alaska Native villages, Shishmaref and Newtok, are the first in the Alaskan Arctic that need to urgently relocate. This is compounded by the fact that Kivalina isn’t a place that makes money. Most of the people in Kivalina do not operate within a cash economy as there are not many jobs in Kivalina. The people live rural lives that straddle something of their traditional culture and the industrialized culture of the U.S.; families subsist off of the land but also off of food stamps. They receive healthcare through the IHS and also Medicaid. There is no running water in Kiv

KIVALINA, ALASKA - July 2, 2017...ated to be underwater by 2025.

KIVALINA, ALASKA - July 2, 2017 : Summer flowers, in Kivalina, Alaska./ASH ADAMS Background on the project: Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages experiencing effects of climate change that make the village’s current location unsustainable. Scientists estimate that the 400-person Arctic village that is only accessible by boat or plane has a decade or less before it will be uninhabitable, as the permafrost is melting and storms and the sea eat away at its coastline. Kivalina is estimated to be underwater by 2025.

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jennifer Swan...r location about 8 miles away.

KIVALINA, ALASKA: Jennifer Swan runs from the waves of the Chukchi Sea on the beach in Kivalina, Alaska in November 2016. The roughly 400-person village of Kivalina is one of several Alaska Native villages that faces neccesary relocation in the next few years, due to rising sea levels and eroding coasts. The village is currently in the process of building a road to a safer location about 8 miles away.

Ash Adams

Also by Ash Adams —

WITHIN THE WILD

SALMON RETURN

NEW WORK//STORIES

CARRYING SKY, The First Year

Tavlugun Women

YOU ARE THE COLOR OF MEMORY

THE TEENAGE WHALER

The People All Call Her Alaska

FOOD

WHILE IN BETWEEN

Carrying Sky

KIVALINA