Arctic Moment: At The Confluence

In the late summer and fall of 2018, Mark Kelly took part in an International League of Conservation Photographers project. The idea was to draw attention to what oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would mean for the Porcupine caribou calving grounds and the Gwich’in people on both sides of the border. Kelly’s assignment was to show people’s connection to the land, water and caribou. In this silhouette image, Paul Josie leans on his boat, which is moored at the shore of his camp at the confluence of the Porcupine and Driftwood rivers. Josie is a Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation citizen, leader, guide, father, husband and hunter. Not always in that order.