From the living rooms of language keepers to fishing sites along the Upper Columbia River, our team has documented and shared your stories with readers across the greater Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Below is a compilation of images we published over the past year, taken by both staff and freelance photographers, as well as photographers with publishing partners. It’s a sampling of the award-winning coverage we are proud to produce. This is not meant to be a “best of” list, but rather a digital display of the stellar storytelling produced by the dedicated staff, freelancers and publishing partners who made it all possible.
A special shoutout to all of the sources for their willingness to welcome our team into their communities and trusting us to share your stories. None of this would be possible without all of your cooperation.
We hope you enjoy reviewing our 2022 year in photographs as much as we enjoyed creating them.
Green Energy's Environmental and Economic Balancing Act (April 22, 2022) Elwood Hinkey, a Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone tribal citizen, is pictured on the Fort McDermitt Reservation in Nevada on March 11, 2022. Hinkey strongly opposes the Thacker Pass lithium mine and worries that chemicals used and the pollution created will be harmful to the landscape and people who live in the area. Photo by Alex Milan Tracy / Underscore News
Indigenous Survivors: Voices of Resilience (July 9, 2022) Kola Shippentower-Thompson, a mixed martial arts fighter who helps other abuse survivors by training them in safety and self-defense techniques, experienced rape at age 19 and violence at the hands of an ex-boyfriend and ex-husband. The red handprint tattoo on her right arm, a symbol of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, is joined by doves representing members of her family who have passed on. Photo by Kathy Aney / EO Media Group
Indigenous Survivors: Voices of Resilience (July 9, 2022) Althea Wolf weaves a wapas bag on July 4, 2022. Hanging on the tipi poles are two items especially meaningful to the Umatilla tribal member: a jacket her son wears while performing in the Happy Canyon Night Show and a buckskin dress given to her by her mother. Wolf, a sexual assault survivor, helps other survivors by writing letters to lawmakers for support, raising funds for rape kits for the tribes’ victims services and speaking about sexual and domestic violence. Photo by Kathy Aney / EO Media Group
MMIP: Beyond the Reservation (July 18, 2022) People participate in the “Red Dress Walk” across the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland on May 5, 2022, part of an event aimed at bringing awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous people. Laura John, tribal relations director for the City of Portland and organizer of the event, speaks into the megaphone to the right. Photo by Leah Nash / Underscore News
MMIP: Beyond the Reservation (July 18, 2022) Dania Kali, 13, left (red bandana), and Marcelina Gallegos, 13, (red hoodie), participate in the “Red Dress Walk” across the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland on May 5, 2022. The walk was part of an event aimed at bringing awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous people. Photo by Leah Nash / Underscore News
MMIP: Beyond the Reservation (July 18, 2022) Aztec dancer Kassandra Gonzalez of Seattle during the opening prayers of a May 5, 2022 event for Portland’s MMIP awareness week. Photo by Leah Nash / Underscore News
MMIP: Beyond the Reservation (July 18, 2022) Three canoes brought attendees to shore during a May 5, 2022 event for Portland’s MMIP awareness week. Many people wore red in commemoration of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Photo by Leah Nash / Underscore News
Conserving and Celebrating an Ancient Fish (August 19, 2022) To close the Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration on July 30, 2022, participants from the crowd were encouraged to dance together to the beat of the drum in a social dance called the “eel dance” that honored the lamprey eaten that day. Photo by McKayla Lee / Underscore News
Photo Essay: Inaugural Native and Indigenous Bike Ride a Success (September 2, 2022) Alexis Vazquez, left, identifies as Taino, a group of people Indigenous to what is now Puerto Rico, and uses they/them pronouns. Vazquez proudly displays the Navajo Nation and Puerto Rico flags as they lead the riders to the next stop during the ride. Photo by Jarrette Werk / Underscore News
Indigenous Midwifery Center Aims to Revitalize Birth Practices (September 15, 2022) Marianna Harvey attended the Milk Medicine Gathering and Celebration in Tacoma, Washington on Aug. 7, 2022 with her two sons, Ayut, 3 years old, and Tumna, 9 weeks old. Both children were birthed at home and supported by the Center for Indigenous Midwifery. Photo by McKayla Lee / Underscore News
Surviving the Pandemic with the Snotty Nose Rez Kids (September 20, 2022) One the first stop of their "Sink or Swim" tour, Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce and Darren "Young D" Metz of the Snotty Nose Rez Kids performed their new single "I'm Good" at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon on September 7, 2022. Photo by Jarrette Werk / Underscore News
Indigenous Prisoners Hold First Powwow Since 2019 (September 22, 2022) Keith “Soy” Redthunder, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, has attended the Washington State Penitentiary powwow for years. He is the great-great grandson of Chief Joseph the younger and a Vietnam veteran. Photo by Jarrette Werk / Underscore News
Indigenous Prisoners Hold First Powwow Since 2019 (September 22, 2022) Jeremy Garretson, Northern Arapaho, serves as the Indigenous Reentry Program Director at Unkitawa, a nonprofit centered in traditional practices to help heal and support communities through ceremony, art and culture. Garretson, who was formerly incarcerated himself, now assists Native circles in Washington prisons. Photo by Jarrette Werk / Underscore News
‘Pahto Will Always be a Gift:’ Yakama Nation Marks 50th Anniversary of Land Return (September 29, 2022) Yakama Nation Indian Days royalty pose with Jim Thomas, Tlingit, after presenting him with a blanket given to him to honor him for his help during the tribe's campaign to have the federal government honor promises it made when signing a treaty with the tribe in 1855 guaranteeing Mount Adams was included in its reservation. Photo courtesy of Andrea Tulee, Yakama Nation
Running Down a Dream (September 30, 2022) Ku Stevens makes a prayer offering and places orange flowers on a grave after running 50 miles through the Nevada desert to the Stewart Indian School Cemetery in Carson City, Nevada. Photo by Jarrette Werk / Underscore News
How to Celebrate the Removal of a Dam (October 26, 2022) Yakama Nation dancer Moses Walsey with bald eagle headdress helped commemorate the removal of Condit Dam. Photo by Jurgen Hess / Columbia Insight
Tribes Celebrate Plan to Remove Dams on Klamath River (November 21, 2022) Jamie Holt, Yurok Tribe Fisheries biologist counts and documents dead fish during the 2021 salmon die off in the Klamath River. Photo courtesy of Stormy Staats / Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative
Photo Essay: How to Celebrate Unthanksgiving (November 28, 2022) Alba Mae Veenhuizen, 3, holds up an earthworm as she helps her mother Melissa dig out roots. Melissa says, “I’m trying to reconnect with my roots as my mom’s family is Navajo. None of us have been tied to the culture, so I am trying to start a new meaningful tradition for my daughter and I.” Photo by Alex Milan Tracy / Underscore News
Lead photo: ‘You Lose a Language, You Lose a Culture’ (March 2, 2022) Esther Stutzman and her granddaughter Aiyanna Brown, who are Kalapuyan descendants, have spearheaded the effort to print and distribute the Kalapuya-English dictionaries published last winter. Photo by Leah Nash / Underscore News
Jarrette is a multimedia journalist with experience in digital news, audio reporting and photojournalism. He joined Underscore in June 2022 as a staff reporter and photographer, in partnership with the national Report for America program. Originally from Montana, Jarrette is a proud member of the Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. Prior to joining Underscore, he served as an associate producer for Nevada Public Radio’s (KNPR) “Native Nevada Podcast,” an eight-part podcast series highlighting the culture, issues and perseverance of the 27 tribal nations in present-day Nevada. He has been a member of the Native American Journalists Association since 2017 and has participated as a Native American Journalist Fellow four times, including once as a mentor-in-training. He has earned a national Hearst Journalism Award and regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting.
