This talk and film screening feature Indigenous artists Chantel Dolphin Lady Comardelle of Isle de Jean Charles and Dennis Davis of Shishmaref. The film is titled “Our Knowledge is Power: The Cultures of Beauty and Survival in Isle de Jean Charles, LA and Shishmaref, AK.”

Comardelle and Davis are from communities in Louisiana and Alaska that face displacement due to climate change.

Comardelle is a photographer, lifelong resident of Isle de Jean Charles in the Louisiana bayou, and Tribal secretary for the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation.

Davis is a self-taught Inupiat photographer who for two decades has used photography and video to document changes in Shishmaref on Alaska’s western coastline. His photography is influenced by the Kigiqtamiut Inupiat’s belief in the connections between land, animals and people.

The Laboratory for the American Conversation at OSU-Cascades is hosting the event. Elizabeth Marino, co-director of the lab and an associate professor of anthropology. Her research has recorded the impacts of climate change in Shismaref for 17 years.

In addition to the talk and film screening, an exhibit featuring the artists’ photography will be on display in Ray Hall through December.

The event and exhibit were made possible with a grant from the Roundhouse Foundation and support from Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts and Bennington Properties.