To the north

In case you thought my post on women photographers on Wednesday for International Women’s Day was the lot, sorry, there’s a few more to finish. I didn’t want to put it all in the one post in case some of it got overlooked. And the geographically astute amongst you may have noticed my intentions with the south to north progression of photographers, NZ, Japan, USA, UK: England and Scotland. (Or maybe you didn’t notice that spread.)

Anyway, I have a great affinity for the work of Scandinavian nature photographers, whose work is very very different from the work we see in the UK or North America. And I find a similar attraction to the work of the documentary photographers of the north.

So….off we go further ‘up’, where a veritable smorgasbord of visual interest awaits you.

The shocking massacre on Utoya Island in Norway changed the country forever. Documentary photographer Andrea Gjestvang was moved to begin a portrait project ‘One Day in History’ to record some of the survivors. She has produced what I consider to be utterly compelling images, which I already linked to here on duckrabbit.  (Warning, a few of the images may distress you with graphic depictions of serious gunshot injuries.)

After Utøya © Andrea Gjestvang

But I wanted to flag up her wonderful project on adolescents in Finnmark ‘Everybody Knows this is Nowhere’. This is a beautifully observed series of images, some striking, some humorous, a few simply wistful and meditative observations on the fleeting moments that characterize adolescence. I’m sure you’ll see yourself reflected somewhere in these splendid images.

Finnmark © Andrea Gjestvang

Norwegian photographer Tine Dyrkorn has undertaken what is a remarkably bold and important ‘self-examination’ through photography. Her self-portraits are astonishing, both in their strangely compelling beauty, but also in the ‘character’ they reveal. Where the other photographers here portray the body within the landscape, some revealing identity through place, or connections to the events of place, Tine reveals the body as landscape, mapping the skin she lives in. I am curious where this work will lead her as the ‘contours’ of her life change.

Image © Tine Dyrkorn

“Having lost more than 50 kilos in 18 months, has given me a lot of excess skin. This project has been a self-examination, and it has been an important part of my process towards becoming “a new body” and to experience a self-realization, both physically and mentally. My personal goal is to show that even if your body (or skin in this matter) may not be that beautiful, you as a person can be beautiful anyway. And you can even make beautiful pictures of something that may offend others.”

A big shout for Erika Larsen, who despite the name, is from the USA but her work on the Sami culture is truly impressive. Erika’s interest is in “cultures that maintain strong connections with nature.”  I first came across her work on the Sami and was hugely impressed. The tension between the traditional and the modern is evident in many of her images, and reveals the precarious nature of living between two worlds.

Sami © Erika Larsen

The image below is from Erika’s project ‘Young Blood’ – an exploration of hunting in the United States, but from a child’s perspective. The tragic shootings in recent months in the USA has focused even more attention on the issue of gun ownership, and the ‘problems’ such access to firearms causes. But like most contentious issues, it’s a far more complex story than many of the outspoken pro/anti gun ownership lobbies would have us believe.

This is an important piece of work, carefully considered, and placing the ‘tool’ that is the gun, firmly in the spotlight, but in its ‘natural’ context, revealing its more traditional role on the North American continent as ‘connector’ of (young) people to the land, to nature, and to food.

“I spent a year and half traveling across the United States looking
for its next generation of hunters and the children I found put a young face
on an ancient practice. Along the way I joined many hunting expeditions
and sought the perspective of child hunters.

The faces reveal America’s youth connecting to hunting’s storied past.
Many children today while away their time with video games, television
and movies. These young hunters take a different path.
For them, the thrill is learning to follow their instincts and
being immersed in nature.

As children learn to hunt, they not only carry on a sacred tradition,
but also learn to embrace the environment. They experience up close
the lessons of life and death and become part of that cycle. No longer
just observers, these children are working parts of nature.

Hunting is a tradition that has been passed down through families for
centuries. In some places it is a means of survival, in others a
sacred sport. For everyone, learning to hunt is a coming of age.
Hunters often consider what they do to be a privilege, even a ritual,
which outsiders do not fully understand. From the vantage point of the
young hunter, I was shown a small window into that world.”

Young Blood © Erika Larsen

Tiksi © Evgenia Arbugaeva

Once upon a time in Siberia, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in a warm bed in a small town, a little girl woke up from a dream.  It was morning, but it was still dark out, for the little town was so far North that the sun would not show itself for many months. They called this the Polar Night. The little girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes and dressed in the dark.  She put on her pink jacket and red stocking cap and stepped outside.  Her breath froze and she walked in the direction of school.  All around her were endless fields of frozen tundra.  But the fields were not white like you might think, for up above the Aurora Borealis lit up the sky.  It looked like a big green breath frozen in the heavens and all around the little girl were beautiful colors.  The snow was painted green.  And on some mornings—if she was lucky—she’d even see bits of blue, yellow and pink on her walk to school.

Tiksi © Evgenia Arbugaeva

I hope this brief selection of astonishing, moving, powerful and important work has brought a few of you some new names to follow, maybe some inspiration, a little insight, and a lot of pleasure. That’s all for my wee shout for International Women’s Day.