Zoë Urness Photograph Zoë & Violet

Zoë and Violet "The black and white feathers on the cape wrapped around my daughter and I represent the eagle, as I am Eagle Clan, and in Tlingit matrilineal tradition, the children become members of their mothers Clan. We sit surrounded by the roots of the tree, as if it's a safety blanket around us both. This reflects the importance of our deep ties to each other and symbolizes the family tree from which we come, always providing protection. We are looking up and out in wonder of the journey ahead, the comfort and stillness of the pose suggests that any path taken, mother and child are always rooted in each other. Shortly after my daughter was born, I buried her placenta, also known as the tree of life, under a cedar tree on a winter night under the moonlight near the ocean where I live. The purpose was to ceremoniously enjoin her to Mother Earth and to ground her spirit in this plane." Zoe Urness Zoe Marieh Urness is an award-winning Alaskan Tlingit photographer wh