David Curtis is a commercial salmon fisher, carpenter, and artist who has had the honour and privilege of living off-grid in the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in outside Dawson City, Yukon, for the past 21 years. In all aspects of his life, he nurtures a close relationship to nature, laughter, and the ancient Greek concept of kairos—roughly translated as the right, critical, or opportune moment.

David’s work focuses on the associative possibilities between form, subject, and meaning, and is predicated on the idea that poetry, passion, and humility are not only important to being human, but essential to our survival.

Sovereign Soil is David’s first feature documentary, and is part of a planned triptych of works within his community exploring the intimacies of human relationships to land.