Photo District News 2017 Awards Winner, Photographer Kiliii Yuyan is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. These images are from his project ‘Trapper & Falconer‘. To see Kiliii’s body of work click on any image.
Falconry and Fur Trapping are both ancient professions. Yet for Jim and Aaron, who were not raised in a culture of these historic arts, pursuing them were significant life choices. The life of a fur trapper is strenuous with few rewards. The life of a falconer is an expensive & time-consuming pursuit. Yet for both, learning the skills has bonded them to the natural world. According to Trapper Jim, a Canadian, he alone is responsible for the conservation of the fur-bearer population on his trapline. Falconry has likewise made Aaron into a raptor biologist and steward of the old-growth Northwest forests where he flies his hawks.
As a photographer I am drawn to the connection between people and the land. Native cultures strive to maintain a deep cultural relationship with the land, while increasingly Westerners seek to return to these land-based lifestyles. What they have found is an essence that escapes description. Says Jim, “This is how humans were meant to live.”
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By Kiliii Yuyan