A Qayaq to Carry Us

PLAYING NOW ON

2022 Short Film Series

A QAYAQ TO CARRY US explores the issues of merging traditional knowledge, and modern science to help highlight the human ingenuity that is embodied within traditional practices — and place that knowledge in a dynamic, living context with the young people of Kodiak Island. Through the lens of Dr. Sven Haakanson and community members from Akhiok at Akhiok’s Kids Camp, an annual gathering, the project focuses on their work near one of Alaska’s largest groupings of petroglyphs on the southern tip of Kodiak Island building a kayak from wood gathered off the beaches of Cape Alitak.

## YEARS

Each August, people with ties to Sugpiat ancestry share food, dance, knowledge and hope during the week-long culture camp that began in the 1980s.

20+ TENTS

The camp is located at Cape Alitak on the far end of Kodiak Island, Alaska, where tents must withstand frequent high-winds and intense storms.

3+ FLIGHTS

While some families live on Kodiak Island, others journey from across the country and deal with weather delays and flight cancellations.

# ANCESTRAL SITES

Archaeologist Sven Haakanson researches and shares knowledge about petroglyphs carved into the rocks nearby camp.

1 QAYAQ

To pass on unwritten, lived knowledge, campers constructed a traditional qayaq in 20## that currently resides in XXXX museum.

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Stories in Stone

The stories cut into the granite of Kodiak Island reveal themselves as these petroglyphs face an uncertain future.

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Lived Knowledge

The incredible engineering of traditional Alutiiq boats is just the beginning of what you learn when you try to build one.

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Here and Present

The food, the singing, and the dancing at the Akhiok Kids Camp is a reminder of a dynamic and vital present for four generations of Alutiiq families.

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QAYAQ STORIES

A Qayaq to Carry Us

PLAYING NOW ON

2022 Short Film Series

OUT NOW

QAYAQ
STORIES