For many people in the Marshall Islands, Chewy Lin is the person behind the camera.

He is the photographer at graduations, cultural events, government conferences, beauty pageants, community gatherings, and breaking news scenes. He has documented everything from the Miss Marshall Islands Pageant to the fires that destroyed the Waan Aelōñ in Majōl canoe house and the Nitijeḷā.

Yet, Lin sees his role somewhat differently. “You always have some uncle in the family that goes to birthday parties and takes family photos and always has a camera,” Lin said. “I feel like that’s my role, just for the entire country.”

For nearly 30 years, Lin has called the Marshall Islands home. Moving to the RMI as a child, he graduated from Majuro Co-op and Assumption High School. Today, he is one of the country’s most recognizable visual storytellers.

His work often focuses on climate change, culture, and everyday life in the Marshall Islands. But he says those stories are inseparable from one another.

Taking More Than Just Pictures

Although much of his work comes through contracts with governments, NGOs, and international agencies, Chewy’s personal mission extends beyond any single client. Over the years, he has quietly built a visual record of Marshallese life—from graduations and church gatherings to climate conferences and national emergencies—creating an archive that future generations may one day look back on to understand who they were.

That commitment to preserving memory has shaped nearly every aspect of Chewy’s career. It is also what drew him into documenting climate change—not simply as an environmental issue, but as a story about culture, language, family, and belonging.

Chewy became involved in climate storytelling through his longtime friendship with Marshallese poet and climate activist Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner.

The two grew up together, and after Jetñil-Kijiner gained international recognition for her climate advocacy, she invited Chewy to help document a museum project (Weaving Hands: Jaki-ed Project). One project led to another, eventually taking him across the Marshall Islands to document environmental change and life on remote atolls.

Along the way, he witnessed changes firsthand. “I still have these vibrant memories of how beautiful the coral was when I was a kid … now bleaching.”

Yet Chewy believes that climate change stories often miss an important point. Focusing only on rising seas or migration statistics, they overlook what is truly at stake: culture, family ties, and connections to land.

For Marshallese families, land is more than property. It connects generations, traditions, identity, and community. When people leave their home islands, those connections can become more difficult to maintain.

“People don’t understand that Marshallese culture—everything is connected to the land.” When you leave, you’re cut off from the land, and eventually the practices die.

Telling a Marshallese Story

Those themes became central to a recent documentary Chewy produced for the World Health Organization, Honouring Home: A Marshallese Voice for Climate Justice.

The project follows Jobod Silk and his grandmother, exploring how climate change threatens not only physical places but also cultural traditions and family relationships.

Chewy said the original concept was much simpler. The assignment called for a straightforward climate change interview. Instead, he pushed for something deeper.

“I really convinced them to let me tell the story using the culture aspect of it.”

The finished film emphasizes the bond between generations. One particularly memorable scene features Jobod and his bubu singing together. The song was written by the grandmother herself, highlighting the cultural knowledge passed from one generation to the next and reinforcing one of the film’s central themes: that climate change threatens not only places, but the traditions and relationships rooted in them.

For Chewy, those moments reveal what climate change conversations often overlook.

“When people hear climate change, they think, ‘Okay, move from your house to another place. What’s the big deal?’” he said. “But they don’t understand what’s connected to that place.”

The documentary became an opportunity to share that perspective with a global audience through one of the world’s largest public health organizations.

For Chewy, the project aligned with a goal that has guided much of his career: ensuring that Marshallese stories are seen and remembered.

“I just want to document it,” he said. “I don’t want people to forget that we are here.”

“I was really happy that there was a platform,” Chewy said. “WHO is a really big platform. Being able to tell a Marshallese story—that made me happy.”

Recording Marshallese voices

While climate change projects have brought international attention to Chewy’s work, some of his most meaningful efforts happen much closer to home.

He intentionally interviews Marshallese speakers in Marshallese, even when doing so requires more work and translation.

Many visiting media crews choose English-speaking interview subjects because it is easier, he said. Chewy understands the practical reasons, but he worries about what is lost when Marshallese voices are filtered through translation or excluded entirely.

“I always try my best to interview people who speak Marshallese,” he said.

By recording people in their own language, Chewy hopes future generations will be able to hear Marshallese stories told by Marshallese voices, rather than only through translation.

Chewy hopes that decades from now, future generations will be able to hear and see Marshallese people speaking in their own language and cultural context.

In that sense, his photographs and films serve as more than journalism. They become an archive. A visual record of ceremonies, songs, community gatherings, traditional practices, and everyday moments that might otherwise fade from memory.

Whether documenting a climate conference, a school graduation, or a grandmother singing with her grandson, Chewy sees each image as part of a larger story.

A story about a people, a culture, and a homeland that deserve to be remembered.

“I just don’t want people to forget that we’re here,” he said. “We’re this small island country, but our stories matter.”

Editor’s Note: The World Health Organization documentary Honouring Home: A Marshallese Voice for Climate Justice was directed and produced by Chewy Lin. The film follows Marshallese climate advocate, Jobod Silk, and his grandmother, exploring how climate change threatens not only homes and coastlines, but also cultural knowledge, family ties, and connections to land.

Watch: Honouring Home: A Marshallese Voice for Climate Justice
Honouring home: a Marshallese voice for climate justice (WHO-Western Pacific, Multimedia)