2019-2020 Alternate Candidate for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in Canada

I’m thrilled and extremely honored to be an Alternate Candidate for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. 

The project would be to spend nearly five months producing new photographs and interacting with the community in the extremely Arctic Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. 

A Fulbright Fellowship would fund the trip and much of the related production costs.

Fulbright Project Overview

Capturing the changing landscape has become my major creative endeavor. 

The Fulbright grant allows me to continue my work in the arctic.  It is essential to return to the there before additional irreparable changes occur. 

Due to the high costs, lack of support, and minimal funding sources, the only option is to become a Fulbright Fellow. 

For Canada, people will see the impact that climate change has on life. Talks, presentations, exhibitions, and social media show how rapid changes ripple throughout the Inuit, Baffin Island, and elsewhere.

Most importantly, I feel it is crucial to complete the project in 2019 before the pristine arctic landscape metamorphoses further. 

My passion is photographing remote landscapes at night. Because of this, my month-long trip to arctic Greenland, many trips to extreme locations, and over a dozen visits to Canada, I feel incredibly prepared to complete the project successfully. 

Previous Trip to Greenland

Professional experience includes extensive planning, travel logistics, identifying and purchasing specialized equipment, working within a budget, and juggling all other aspects of a large creative photographic project. The Greenland trip also exposed me to native Inuit people and their culture, where I learned some basic Western Greenlandic; I plan on learning and speaking some Inuktitut.

I also have experience in disseminating project results. I’ve met with international cultural Attachès and have developed significant local, governmental, and cultural relationships. An extensive contact list of almost two hundred journalists, scientists, artists, environmentalists, and scholars have been compiled, whom I will continue to reach out to. Additional connections, including the towns and Government of Nunavut, the US and Canadian Embassies, and others, will be made is invaluable. Creating, editing, and selecting thousands of photographs into a portfolio of prints is something I’ve done dozens of times, and I am incredibly comfortable giving talks and presentations. 

 

Local Political or Cultural Issues 

Learning as much as possible about Inuit culture and history is vital for the project too. I will learn to speak and understand some Inuktitut, which, based on my limited understanding of Western Greenlandic, should somewhat easier. This will help to interact directly with local people and communities.

Dissemination of Work

A significant component of the project is giving lectures, talks, presentations, exhibitions, and social media, which will occur during and after the project; the dissemination will be local and international. While in-country, I will discuss my working process, give presentations, and exhibit some images at the Arctic College’s Nunatta and hopefully at the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot Campus’ and the Research center, the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, and at local community centers where possible.

After completing the images in Baffin Island, photographs will be carefully edited and color corrected in New York, resulting and a portfolio of about fifteen 40×50” prints and a book dummy.  These will be taken to existing and new gallery, and museum curator’s for possible exhibitions, such as The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris, who expressed interest in this body of work; the Winnipeg Art Gallery, where I was included in a group exhibition with Jeff Wall and which has a preeminent Inuit collection; the Montreal Museum of Arts, and L’Université du Québec à Montréal, where I have introductions; the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark; and to curators and other Canadian cultural institutions. I also have several gallery connections in New York, North American, and Europe. 

Additional talks and presentations with the final images will be made in conjunction with these shows or separately. These could be at the institutions above and at the Yale Club of New York, where I talked on Greenland and the arctic, and arts and climate change-oriented organizations. 

Travel Logistics

The project requires about four and a half to five months in Canada and several months after to create the photographic portfolio. Early Summer through early Fall will be spent creating work in Qikiqtarjuaq, Sirmilik National Park, and Auyuittuq National Park–approximately five weeks in each location. After flying from New York to Iqaluit, local flights will be made to Pangnirtung, Qikiqtarjuaq, Clyde River, and Pond Inlet, which will act as logistical bases and food/package drops as well as departure points for photographing. Some helicopters, boats, and guides will be used in Sirmilik and Auyuittuq while camping and trekking National Parks; SatPhones will be used for safety. 

Some talks or presentations will be given locally during this time, as well as afterward. An additional three months of work is necessary for post-production, editing, selecting, and printing the photos. Scheduling exhibitions take many additional months.

Time, Resources, Feasibility

Based on extensive previous experience, I feel highly confident that the project will be completed on time and on or under budget. My arctic trip to Greenland provides invaluable knowledge. There, I researched, planned, and executed a month-long funded trip to Greenland where, except for grant funding, there was no other additional support. Last year’s artist-in-residence in rural France, where an exhibition was created in days, was a helpful experience. Finally, being part of many artist residencies in remote locations and traveling nearly a dozen times to Canada makes me feel confident in completing the project. I also am extremely detail-oriented and work well independently or with others.