Acacia Johnson (born 1990) is an American photographer from

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

who since 2014 has focused on the

polar regions The polar regions, also called the frigid geographical zone, zones or polar zones, of Earth are Earth's polar ice caps, the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North Pole, North and South Poles), lying within the pol ...

. She has made over fifty expeditions to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, the Norwegian island of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, the Canadian Arctic and Antarctica, lecturing on photography and indigenous peoples. Johnson has contributed to ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', most recently in a feature on

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

(September 2019). Her work forms part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and the

Anchorage Museum The Anchorage Museum is a large art, history, ethnography, ecology and science museum located in a modern building in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska. It is dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art and history of Alaska. The mu ...

Biography

Born in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

in 1990, during her childhood she was keen on following wildlife including

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

s. In 2008, she was an exchange student at Narvik Upper Secondary School in

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, Norway. The year she spent there encouraged her to embark on a career as a photographer, thanks to a course on media and communications and the magic light she discovered in the polar circle. After spending a few years in Norway, she studied photography at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. As a result of successfully focusing on photography in the polar regions, she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship. It brought her to Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic where she was able to study the local population in an Inuit village. Johnson explains that she is not the first one in her family to be interested in photography: "Both my grandfather and my father took pictures all the time. I got my first camera when I was nine. I have always been artistic but I think the reason I chose photography was because it is not only a form of artistic expression, it also offers a means of engaging with the world". Since October 2019, Acacia Johnson has been based in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, where she is following a course in creative writing at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. She intends to develop her photographic and writing skills in either fiction or in photo books with descriptive essays.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Acacia 1990 births Artists from Anchorage, Alaska 21st-century American photographers American polar explorers Female polar explorers American women explorers Rhode Island School of Design alumni Living people American expatriates in Norway University of Virginia alumni 21st-century American women photographers