A film by Tony Gerber, in collaboration with Blane De St Croix

Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) is the northernmost community in America and the largest town on Alaska’s North Slope. Situated at the junction of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, the city is 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle and has been home to the Iñupiat people for more than 1,500 years. Much of the city’s infrastructure is built on permafrost — soil, gravel, and sand, bound together by ice. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that more than 3 feet of Utqiagvik’s coastline is lost to permafrost-melt and erosion every year.

On his 2019 trip to Utqiagvik, Alaska, De St. Croix was accompanied by director Tony Gerber and a film crew who are working on a documentary about the artist’s process and work. Presented here is the first public footage from the film.

Directed by Tony Gerber, this short film collages together footage of the artist, Utqiagvik, various scientists research, and the devastating effect of climate change on this vulnerable landscape and the Inupiaq people. The original sound score is by composer Mick Rossi.

Paintings and photographic documentation in support of the project can be viewed in the respective sections.

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