​For six months during the spring and summer of 2016, I teamed up with NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program [HMSRP] as artist in resident. After a month of training in Honolulu, I worked as an embedded member of a three-person field camp at Pearl & Hermes atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands [NWHIs], some 1200 miles northwest of Honolulu.  During the residency, I worked as a field biologist collecting important population assessment data on the Hawaiian monk seal. I used the experience of working as a field biologist to inform a new body of work focused on wildlife conservation and environmental stewardship. An exhibition and accompanying catalog based on this research debuted in Ocotber, 2017 at Traver Gallery. 
 

Freshly molted juvenile Hawaiian monk seal. Hawaiian monk seals undergo a catastrophic molt once a year where they lose their fur and top layer of skin to a fresh silvery coat they'll wear until they molt again.

A critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal green from algae after a long period at sea, rests on a bed of equally green Akulikuli; a native plant found in the Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Islands

Freshly molted juvenile Hawaiian monk seal. Hawaiian monk seals undergo a catastrophic molt once a year where they lose their fur and top layer of skin to a fresh silvery coat they'll wear until they molt again.

Map of the Northwestern Hawaiian islands / Image borrowed from this website
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​The Hawaiian monk seal is endemic to Hawaii and with roughly 1,300 individuals remaining, one of the most  endangered marine mammals in the world. The HMSRP has been working to help recover the Hawaiian monk seal for three decades and it is estimated that about 30% of the population is alive today due to their efforts. With a number of one-of-a-kind recovery activities including translocations and vaccinations, the HMSRP is the most proactive marine mammal recovery program on the planet.

Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program staff care for a critically ill, young Hawaiian monk seal. In mid-August, this emaciated seal was brought from Laysan island in the NWHI's to the Ke Kai Ola Hawaiian monk seal hospital in Kailua-Kona, HI. There he was rehabilitated and then released back into the wild in the Spring of 2017. With a total population of about 1,300, the survival of the species lies in the life of every seal. Veterinarian Michelle Barbieri-Lino [right] and Veterinarian tech Angie Kaufman [left] on board NOAA RV Oscar Elton Sette. NMFS Permit No. 16332-01 

A Hawaiian monk seal green from algae growing on it's fur after a long period of foraging at sea.

Hawaiian monk seals hauled out in shallow water. On hot days, or after hours of resting further up on shore, Hawaiian monk seals will move to rest in shallow waters. With their heads dipped just under the surface of the water they will blow bubbles and lift their head up for a breath.

HMSRP camp at Pearl and Hermes. Population [human] three

Sunset from Southeast island. The sky and weather changed quickly and dramatically.

Juvenile HMS hauled out.

Interior of North @ Pearl and Hermes after the Black-footed and Laysan albatross have fledged.

A nursing pup and it's mom. HMS mothers will stay with and nurse their pup for about month. During the nursing period the mother will fast & lose a considerable amount of body mass.

View into the atoll from North island. Clouds reflect the turquoise water.

A newly weaned pup rests on shore. This is a critical time where seals learn to forage. This weaned pup is still fat from nursing but will lose a great deal of body mass in the coming months.

Little North @ Pearl and Hermes

This tiny pup prematurely weaned from it's mother. One reason a pup will prematurely wean is because it's mother did not have enough energy reserves to continue nursing her pup. The survival rate of prematurely weaned pups is greatly diminished.

Here a field biologist surveys a tiny sand spit. Some of the islands in the atoll are mere sand dunes barely sticking out of the water; a perfect place to haul out if you are a HMS

My interest in this research lies in the ideology that knowledge is the key to change and that the dialogue between art and science is imperative for a most informed and diversified understanding of life on earth. With science far too often inaccessible and unattainable, the goal of this collaboration is to bring awareness to the plight of the Hawaiian monk seal and the effects of anthropogenic climate change on the vulnerable ecosystems of the NWHIs and beyond; to learn how to take proactive action for the health and betterment of our planet.

Remains of a Black-footed albatross chick with plastic / Pearl & Hermes / 2016

Black-footed Albatross chicks wait for a feeding

Interior of Seal-Kittery - Pearl and Hermes Atoll

Setting up camp at Lisianski

Tern colony in invasive Verbasina that covers much of the interior of Southeast Island - Pearl and Hermes atoll - Double exposure

S. Youngstrom at work on North Is.

Hawaiian Monk Seal hauled out on Southeast Is.

Black-footed albatross chick on Tern Is - French Frigate Shoals

Self Potrait - Tern Is - French Frigate Shoals

On board NOAA RV Hi'Ialakai / 2016

U.S. Fish and wildlife camp no longer in use at Laysan island

S. Youngstrom and Frigate Bird / PHR / 2016

Above: 120 Medium Format Film : Zero Image 2000
​Shot on : Kodak TMAX : Kodak Portra : Fuji Provia  

This project is approved under the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument permit No. PMNM-2016-011 and National Marine Fisheries Service permit No. 16332-01.