Acacia Johnson. Where the Walruses Sing.

A Pacific walrus surfaces off the coast of Round Island, Alaska. This remote island in the Bering Sea is a protected sanctuary for Pacific walruses, which haul out on the shore by the thousands every summer to rest after mating season. The island has also been an important subsistence hunting ground for the Indigenous Yup’ik people for millennia; the Yup’ik name for the island is Qayassiq, or “place to go in a kayak”.

Acacia Johnson is a photographer and writer from Alaska. Drawn to painterly light and otherworldly landscapes, her work has focused on the environment, conservation, and the connections between people and place. Her photographs are exhibited internationally and have been published in National Geographic, the New York Times, TIME, and many others.   

Follow Acacia on Instagram @acacia.johnson.