Not Far from Here

Not Far from Here captures my experience of walking in the landscapes of the countries of the circumpolar North. The images in this series were exposed on black and white film with a medium and large format cameras that capture the intricacy of the northern landscapes yet transforms them into the realm of abstraction. In this way, the images imitate my experience of walking on glaciers. On one hand, my awareness is heightened as I scramble across the moraine, pay attention to crevasses and moulins, and listen to the sound of ice. Yet the totality of glaciers, the layers of time, and distances underneath the surface remain unknown to me. Simultaneously, this interplay of realism and abstraction reflects my perception of climate change. Despite daily exposure to scientific data that measures the transformations of our environment, climate change itself often remains unseen, remote, and unimaginable. 

Initially conceived while I was walking on glaciers in Alaska, the project was inspired by images of the universe that suggest the expanse of space and despite scientific and technological advances maintain an air of mystery. On the other hand, these images of the cosmos as we know them, such as the widely circulated pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope, have themselves adopted the visual aesthetics of representation of the 19th-century Western landscape and the language of the sublime.

Besides single images, Not Far from Here presents a collage constructed from individual 4X5 negatives that suggest my own map of the glacial landscape while highlighting the photographic process. Conscious of the crucial role photography had for both surveying the American western landscape after the Civil War and for the success of the Hubble Space Telescope, I want to investigate the current role photography plays within conversations related to environmental advocacy and climate change.

By bringing intricate details in focus, Not Far From Here presents a different kind of a map—one that strives to challenge the notion of the Circumpolar North as harsh and remote and instead highlights the complex vulnerability of these regions and their close connections to global ecosystems.