Acacia Johnson

Acacia Johnson is a photographer and writer whose stories spotlight the environment, conservation and the connections between people and place. Her work for National Geographic has covered a variety of topics—from Inuit hunting traditions on Baffin Island to snow algae in polar environments and much more. Throughout her career, Acacia has completed over 55 expeditions to polar regions, including Greenland, Svalbard, the Canadian Arctic and Antarctica. A recent piece for the April 2022 issue of National Geographic magazine brought her to the Bering Sea off the coast of her home state Alaska, where she documented a remote walrus sanctuary.

In addition to her travels, Acacia frequently lectures on photography and visual representations of the polar regions. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is housed in numerous collections, such as the Anchorage Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. She was the 2021 recipient of the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant and the 2022 winner of the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards for Documentary Practices and Photojournalism.