National Geographic photographer Kiliii Y\u00fcyan\u2019s path has been anything but ordinary, and he has a message he wants to share.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a message he will present through the Changemakers Speaker Series with \u201cIndigenous Wisdom for a Modern World,\u201d from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Wheeler Opera House.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I do a talk, I am telling people something they didn\u2019t know before \u2014 that\u2019s the real joy of doing the work I do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Y\u00fcyan is a National Geographic photojournalist and explorer. He won a National Geographic\u2019s Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling in 2023 based on a career of work. The award recognizes storytelling that connects immersive reporting with scientific understanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Appropriately, he was out on assignment in Ecuador when he found out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are all these ways specific regions do stuff, and that\u2019s how conservation is accomplished, so it\u2019s a really fun romp through all of these different places. Everyone has a really good time,\u201d Y\u00fcyan said.<\/p>\n
In Aspen, he is planning to share Indigenous approaches to caring for the planet and recite stories from his latest book, \u201cGuardians of Life: Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Science, and Restoring the Planet,\u201d published last February in Braided River. Bestselling author Charles Mann wrote the forward and Gleb Raygorodetsky is a contributing writer.<\/p>\n
The book focuses on caring for the environment, with his own stories and previous works for National Geographic.<\/p>\n
It shares narratives of \u201cecological knowledge, resilience and Indigenous stewardship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The presentation begins with a story of him singing to orcas to call them to his kayak, a technique his grandmother taught him. Y\u00fcyan is Chinese American with Nanai, also known as H\u00e9zhe \u2014 Indigenous ancestry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndigenous knowledge is often in these forms that are very human, like singing to whales,\u201d he said. \u201cIt brings people into that world, and from there, I go to all these different places and show how Indigenous knowledge works there, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
To create the book he envisioned, he needed money to travel to those places, and to pay for travel to the places the book required, Yuyan applied for a grant and received it. Research took about a year, and fieldwork took another two and a half years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe argument that we are making in the book is that we should help these people do what they are doing since they are the best at it,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
He added that \u201cIndigenous people continue to be the most effective conservationists on the planet.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said he also believes they are the most successful at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to becoming a National Geographic photographer, he spent 20 years building traditional kayaks and growing his relationships among Arctic communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a traditional layette builder, teaching people how to build a very complicated craft, you\u00a0quickly learn how\u00a0people learn. You have to translate this very difficult thing into someone who\u2019s never held a drill before, so they can finish building a boat from wood,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They would make a kayak in a week\u2019s time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I learned a lot about how to teach people difficult concepts,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His photographs have featured on National Geographic covers and in major publications, along with fine art collections like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n
His call to action is to promote conservation and ensure that the money going toward environmental causes actually goes to the Indigenous communities doing the work.<\/p>\n