In 2020, Found Sound Nation began working with the Shared Beringian Heritage Program on a project that examines the history and future of the arctic region of Beringia through sound and film. Over the course of several years, the team compiled interviews, articles, research papers, field recordings and videos to produce an anthology of writing and resources and ultimately a film. The project builds upon the talents of many artists, scientists and Indigenous experts, including Yaari Walker, Miller Kingeekuk, Ossie Kairaiuak, Stephen Qacung Blanchett and Dr. Kathleen Stafford. The project's aim is to amplify regional cultural traditions and practices, and broadcast Beringi's unique and international significance to a global audience. 

A forthcoming documentary follows a fictional filmmaker trying to create a real-life travel show about the arctic region of Beringia. Instead, his show unravels into an elaborate, often funny, magical realist documentary, as he discovers the story of the island of Sivuqaq, the life and visions of an indigenous healer, her whaling captain son, and the dreams of a 220 year old bowhead whale. The result is an evocative exploration of culture, nature, and interconnectedness.

In one of our many conversations with Yaari Walker, a Yupik healer-in-training and one of the film's central figures, she shared a well-known saying from Sivuqaq (St. Lawrence Island): "Nunam pughseghaghlleqaaten"—the land plays tricks on you. Among her relatives and neighbors, there were plenty of accounts from people caught in strange illusions while out on the arctic land.

When Kate Stafford, one of the world's foremost bowhead whale scientists, was asked during our interview if she had ever been deceived by the land, she described a rare optical phenomenon called Fata Morgana—a complex mirage that forms over land or sea, caused by light bending in a way that makes objects on the horizon appear inverted in the sky. Kate explained: "At times, while watching bowhead whales on the ice, when the refraction is just right, they seem to float above the surface, swimming in the sky. Your mind understands what’s happening, but still, you wonder… have we entered an upside-down world?"

This convergence of Fata Morgana and traditional Yupik knowledge about the land’s trickery—two distinct ways of interpreting the world—defines the space this film seeks to explore. On its surface, the film presents an ecological and cultural history of the Beringia region, contrasting scientific insights from leading experts with experts on traditional Yupik knowledge. However, the film is really a deeply personal story – one that introduces the audience to Yaari Walker and her whaling captain son Miller. Separated years ago by a family tragedy, Yaari and Miller’s unearthed story becomes a thread through which the audience experiences the ties between land, history, and cultural survival. Their family history reveals the destructive impact of U.S. western expansion on Indigenous culture, but offers insight into the efforts of their community to preserve traditions and reinvigorate language and traditional knowledge as a path to healing.

Their story is inextricably linked with that of the bowhead whale, one of the largest mammals on Earth, hunted to the brink of extinction to fuel the U.S. industrial revolution - a history that has largely been forgotten with the rise of modern technology. The oil rendered from bowheads lit streets, houses, and workplaces across the U.S and Europe for much of the 19th century, while their baleen (their filter-feeding system) was effectively an early form of plastic, used in everything from toothbrushes to corsets to armor.

For Miller, the relationship between humans and bowhead whales is far more complex and spiritual than transactional or commercial. On Sivuqaq, bowhead whales continue to play a vital role as providers of sustenance, cultural identity and even moral guidance. Considered by many Siberian Yupik people as “the most peaceful animal on the planet,” bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years, making them a hermetic witness to centuries of cultural and ecological upheaval. In a time of global crisis, we believe this inclusive approach to ecology, history, and culture is more urgent than ever. Indigenous, alongside scientific, knowledge bridges perspectives and truths that are too often seen in isolation. Ultimately, the story of a mother’s love for her son and the complicated sacrifices she made, is what opens our window into this arctic world and the environmental and cultural lessons it holds for the world’s past and future.

To learn more about the film, the archive or get involved contact: chris@foundsoundnation.org