Kiliii Yuyan

Photographer Kiliii Yuyan illuminates stories from the Arctic and human communities connected to the land and sea. Informed by ancestry that is both Nanai/Hèzhé (indigenous East Asian) and Chinese-American, he has traveled across the polar regions working with native cultures, wildlife and underwater environments. On assignment, he survived a stalking polar bear, escaped pounding waves while diving with sea otters and found kinship with communities at the edge of the world.

 

Kiliii is an award-winning contributor to several publications, including TIME, Vogue, WIRED and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. He has photographed the cover of National Geographic magazine twice, producing 9 stories for the publication since 2015—including the July 2022 cover story on Native Nations in North America. His more recent work on indigenous conservation from Mongolia to Palau can be seen in the magazine’s August 2024 issue. A National Geographic Explorer, Kiliii is also the 2023 recipient of the National Geographic Eliza Scidmore Award.