COMING SPRING 2026!
Guardians of Life
indigenous practices for a thriving earth
Guardians of Life
Indigenous practices for a thriving earth
Photography by Kiliii Yüyan
Essays by Charles C. Mann
Introduction by Quannah Chasinghorse
““Indigenous peoples have mastered the art of living on Earth without destroying it. They continue to teach and lead by example. We must heed these lessons, if we want our grandchildren to have a future.” ”
There is a critical yet under-recognized role that Indigenous peoples around the world have played— and continue to play—in sustaining biological and cultural diversity. As the biodiversity and climate crises converge, the time to support Indigenous leadership is now.
Conceived of by award-winning National Geographic photographer Killiii Yüyan, the book will take readers on a transformative journey to places and people living “in relationship” with their ancestral homelands. Vivid portraits of Indigenous men and women, youth and elders, hunters and farmers, spiritual leaders and craftsmen will reveal their ways of knowing and working with the land. These are concepts and skills that have been taught for generations and are based on a foundational veneration for life—which is at the heart of caring for a living planet. It reflects a holistic and broad approach to sustainability, including language, art, and ceremony as ways to maintain human-environment relations.
These place-based stories and imagery will be complemented by an introduction by Gwich’in supermodel and activist Quannah Chasinghorse and essay contributions by award-winning writer Charles C. Mann, author of 1491, who accompanied Kiliii on his National Geographic expeditions as the contributing writer to a special issue of National Geographic dedicated to this topic under the same name: Guardians of Life.
About Kiliii yüyan
Photographer Kiliii Yüyan illuminates the stories of the Arctic and human communities connected to the land. Informed by ancestry that is both Nanai (Siberian Indigenous) and Hèzhé (Chinese-American,) he explores the human relationship to the natural world from different cultural perspectives.
Kiliii is one of PDN’s 30 Photographers (2019), a National Geographic Explorer, a member of Indigenous Photograph and Diversify Photo. He was profiled in Filson’s Journal, embedded with the Filson team. His work has been exhibited worldwide and received some of photography's top honors. Kiliii's public talks inspire others about photography, Indigenous perspectives and relationship to land. Kiliii is based out of traditional Duwamish lands (Seattle), but can be found across the circumpolar Arctic much of the year.
He has produced seven stories for National Geographic, with a focus on the Arctic. They include a multi-year project on the subsistence whaling culture of the Alaskan Iñupiaq, as well as stories on the ‘Heathrow of the Arctic’ for migratory birds and Greenland’s kayak culture. He is currently at work on the project on which this book would be based covering Indigenous-led conservation in Ecuador, Australia and Greenland. Kiliii is also an award-winning contributor to Vogue, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, and the Nature Conservancy.
Both wilderness survival skills and empathy have been critical for Kiliii’s projects in extreme environments and cultures outside his own. On assignment, he has fled collapsing sea ice, weathered botulism from fermented whale blood, and found kinship at the edges of the world. In addition, Kiliii builds traditional kayaks and contributes to the revitalization of northern Indigenous culture. Visit his website.