Kiliii Yüyan Challenges Pristine Wilderness Myths Through Photography

Kiliii Yüyan, a Nanai (Siberian Native) and Chinese-American photographer, examines human-nature relationships across cultural perspectives, countering traditional landscape photography ideals exemplified by Ansel Adams's Yosemite Valley images. His work reveals how indigenous communities, from Greenland's Arctic coasts to São Paolo's urban districts, maintain stewardship roles, managing lands with direct impacts. Photographs depict subtle human influences, such as landfills serving as wildlife refuges and climate change increasing mosquitoes carrying avian malaria in northern regions. Conversely, positive interactions include renewable geothermal pipelines in forests, endangered condors surviving on rancher-donated carcasses, and Alaskan peoples sustainably harvesting whales while doubling populations over decades. Yüyan argues that wilderness has always been shaped by human activity, urging a shift from disconnection to responsible stewardship, highlighting complex natural systems and our intricate roles within them.