Indian born artist-educator-activist Subhankar Banerjee uses photography to raise awareness about issues that threaten the health and well-being of our planet. Since late 2000 he has focused all his efforts on indigenous human rights and land conservation issues in the Arctic. His photographic work has been instrumental in the ongoing conservation efforts of the ecologically and culturally significant areas of the American Arctic, including, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Teshekpuk Lake wetlands, Utukok River uplands, Beaufort and Chukchi seas. He works closely with the Gwich'in and Inupiat indigenous communities of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, and most recently with the Yukaghir and the Even indigenous communities of Siberia. His Arctic photographs have been exhibited in nearly forty one-person and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe and published in over one hundred magazines and newspapers internationally. He has lectured extensively to educate the public about land conservation, resource wars and cultural diversity issues. He hopes to continue his work in the Alaskan and Siberian Arctic, and expand to the Canadian, Greenlandic, and the Norwegian Arctic. Subhankar collaborates with the Art for the Environment - an educational outreach initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Natural World Museum. He has received many awards for his Arctic work including an inaugural Greenleaf Artist Award from the United Nations Environment Programme and an inaugural Cultural Freedom Fellowship from Lannan Foundation. Subhankar will be Artist-in-Residence at Dartmouth College during 2009 winter term, and during fall Sea Change Artist-Activist Resident of the Gaea Foundation. Since 2006 he has been a visiting scholar in the College of Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. He serves on the advisory board of Blue Earth Alliance. Subhankar and his wife Nora live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
