Not surprisingly, “Guardians of Life” is an ambitious, visually stunning coffee table book of the natural world. Award-winning National Geographic photographer Killi Yuan has created timeless portraits of the indigenous peoples on the lands and the waters of Alaska, Palau, Ecuador, Mongolia, Australia, Greenland, California, Alberta-Montana and Vancouver Island. From the Ecuadorian rain forests to the various waters surrounding the Palauan archipelago, Yuan’s photos have the elements of presence, of being there. One is feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling, and hearing the land, the waters, the fires and the ice and then, comes face-to-face with the animals and humans. The thoughts and words of the community people who shared their stories with Yuyan and Mann evoke a pause for reflection.
The subtitle is “Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Science and Restoring the Planet.” It is a pleasure to hear the voices of peoples whose knowledge and way of life existed thousands of years before Western science. Over and over again they articulate and live a world view not as the “Lord of Creation” to alter the world in one’s own image. Their worldview is that they are a part of creation. In Greenland, Qaanaaq hunter and musician Aleqatsiaq Peary succinctly states, “It’s not like we’re the only animals in this world…We are not the only ones in the world that need to live.” Fashion model and land protector Quannah Chasinghorse in Alaska says: “When we understand that we are a part of nature and the cycle of life, it allows us to see ourselves as a relative of and part of the land.” Victor Steffensen, founder of Firesticks Alliance in Australia notes: “The knowledge is in the landscape. The Elders have not passed. The land is an Elder too.”
A constant theme is that these indigenous peoples view themselves as part of the world’s flora and fauna. They embrace other animals as their siblings. For example, the Inuit word for ‘food’ literally translates as ‘former being.’ Inuit communities view the animals from the land and sea as their food source so are physically integrated into becoming the people themselves. Indigenous peoples honor the interconnectedness of all living things from birth to death. In the Ecuadoran community of Cofan, Ranger Alex Lucitante observes that, “We don’t own the land; we are caretakers of the forest. I hope that Westerners can get to the point where they respect our way of thinking.” I like the line, “Europeans couldn’t read the totem poles.”
A second theme is that Western science is not enough by itself to understand life and the world. For example, the Altai peoples of Mongolia are guided by their ancestral view of the cosmos. TEK, or Traditional Ecological Knowledge, is “the fine-grained, practical understanding that comes from centuries of experience in a specific landscape. It is not a set of abstract rules but something that is woven into the culture; communities working together on the basis of shared understanding to monitor, protect, and shape their world.” Indigenous people create and maintain sacred sites as an acknowledgement of a spiritual world, a higher order. Traditions, rituals, and ceremonies connect the natural and then spiritual. At the same time, indigenous peoples understand that they are at the behest of natural conditions so are skilled in sensing weather changes, signs of life, signs of death, and signs of continuity and change.
Another difference between Western and Indigenous worldviews, implicit in the chapters, is that indigenous peoples accept their home for thousands of generations. For centuries they have struggled against and resisted outsider invaders and predators at great costs. They continue to do so today. Exploration and conquest of new territories is not a goal. Rather, as guardians of life, their goal was, is, and will be to honor the past, care for the present, and ensure a future in their native lands and Mother Earth. The past, present and future are coterminous. As Chief Seattle observed, “There is no death. Only a change of worlds.” In many stories and visuals, Kilii Yuyan and his collaborators depict what Chief Seattle long ago stated with great wisdom, “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
In celebration of his new book, “Guardians of Life,” Yüyan will share stories from his time photographing portraits of Indigenous peoples and discuss how they play a critical role in sustaining biological and cultural diversity all over the world.
As part of the BeWild Speaker Series, Guardians of Life author Kiliii Yüyan will be speaking at The Mountaineers Seattle this month. Doors 7 p.m. Program 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23, 2026, The Mountaineers Seattle Program Center (7700 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115).
Juanita/Nita is an activist since the 1968 BSU/TWLF San Francisco State Strike; since the 1970 census advocating for more detailed racial and ethnic data in Washington, DC, and now singing with the Seattle Raging Grannies. Her collection resides in the Manuscript Division, The Library of Congress. Author of Golden Children, Legacy of Ethnic Studies, SF State, Juanita is featured in the documentary, Agents of Change https://www.agentsofchangefilmnational.com/
