shashasha

Ai Iwane's photo book "Coho Come Home" captures life in Petrolia, California, a small community founded by flower children near the Mattole River. Iwane, who first visited Petrolia in 1991, focuses on the locals' relationship with the native coho salmon: The Mattole Valley was one of the first places in the United States where grassroots activism restored native salmon populations.

“In the fall of 2020, the Bear River tribe revitalized the traditional Salmon Ceremony for the first time in 118 years.
Being a teenager when I first went to study in the US in 1991, I knew nothing about the relentless efforts of the people of the valley in order to welcome the salmon back, but 30 years later, I had an opportunity for a new, beautiful encounter with the Mattole.”
― from Ai Iwane’s afterword (included in Japanese & English)