Fairbanks Tall Timbers Lecture: Jim Barker

The Fairbanks Tall Timber Series honors those who have served the Fairbanks community well. Join veteran newsman Robert Hannon as he interviews Jim Barker.

James Barker’s photography has been exhibited throughout Alaska and beyond. Jim was born in Pullman, Washington, in 1936 and studied photography at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles. As a documentary and ethnographic photographer, he attended the 1965 march in Selma, Alabama. However, Jim is best known for his work in southwest Alaska, where he moved in 1974 and lived in Bethel with his wife, Robin, and their son, Eric. There, he extensively documented the people in the region. He moved to Fairbanks in 1987 and taught for a year at UAF. Jim has photographed for Doyon, Tanana Chiefs, and Denakkanaaga. He also spent two seasons in Antarctica. Jim is the author of Always Getting Ready/Upterrlainarluta: Yup'ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (University of Washington Press, 1993), and he collaborated to produce Yupiit Yuraryarait: Yup’ik Ways of Dancing (University of Alaska Press) and Bethel: The First Hundred Years (City of Bethel, 1985). He was the recipient of The Rasmuson Foundation’s 2022 Distinguished Artist Award; the first photographer to receive the award.