Congratulations Elliot Ross
2025 Daylight Photo Awards Winner!
In the Navajo Nation–the largest Native reservation in the U.S.–water is not taken for granted. Here, more than 1 in 3 Diné must haul water to their rural homes, often across long distances. The Diné, who are 67 times more likely to lack running water than the average American, use the least amount of water per person in the U.S., but pay the most. Eighty miles away, residents of Utah’s Washington County rely on the same water supply yet pay less for that water than almost anyone in the U.S., and, until recently, consumed the most.
The contrast reflects not only inequities of power and access across rural and racial lines. It also carries a warning that reaches beyond the two arid communities. On June 22, 2024 the planet experienced its hottest day in recorded history, breaking a record set one day earlier. Dust clouds churn on the horizon while a line for water stretches for hours. Much of the world may be headed this way.
As the American Southwest continues to endure its driest period in 1,200 years, lawmakers have an opportunity to make significant changes to how water is allocated and address equity gaps. For the first time in over a century, the federal government is drafting a new plan—one that anticipates a drier future and sets the world’s most litigated river system on a sustainable path. It also promises to include meaningful tribal input meant to address structural inequities in a water supply divided along racial lines. Indigenous communities, whose relationship with the federal government has been largely defined by broken promises, remain deeply skeptical.
This project is close to home–living between the two communities in my daily life, I too rely on the same water which I enjoy safely, cheaply and reliably. As an artist, I felt compelled to expose the inequities my Indigenous neighbors face. For two years I built meaningful relationships within the communities and, thanks to a fellowship at the University of Colorado, I studied the underlying contextual forces that have wrought this gross inequity.
Elliot Ross is a Taiwanese-American photographer and writer based in the American Southwest. His practice is centered on longform projects that examine how landscapes–both natural and artificial–shape community and culture. Ross’s ongoing investigations include: the struggle for Indigenous self-determination, the study and consequences of climate change on natural resources and communities, and the future of atomic extraction and conflict. Ross is a National Geographic Explorer, a Ted Scripps Fellow, and a fellow at The Center for Contemporary Documentation. He has published several books including American Backyard, cover-stories in National Geographic and TIME, and features in The New Yorker and The New York Times.
