‘Where the World is Melting’ Documents Communities Amid Indelible Changes in the Arctic

A photojournalist for the Icelandic daily newspaper Morgunblaðið for 44 years, Ragnar Axelsson is attuned to capturing the moments that tell a story. Mundane activities, impending tragedies, and tender connections between people and animals all figure prominently in his work and offer a portrait of life that comes from being embedded within a community.

Axelsson’s new book, Where the World is Melting, applies this journalistic rigor and sensibility to a personal project documenting the indelible impacts of a warming planet from Greenland to Siberia. In grainy black and white, snow-covered tundras and misty shorelines strikingly glimpse an environment in flux. One image in particular reveals a cloud of steam emanating from the melting Kötlujökull glacier in Iceland.

a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a person standing in a steamy landscape
Kötlujökull Melting, Iceland, 2021

Where the World is Melting focuses on the aging farmers, sled teams, and Indigenous populations all grappling with both drastic changes to their homelands and the traditions they’ve practiced for generations. “What does the future hold for the reindeer herders living in the tundra? Nobody really knows,” Axelsson tells Blind. “A photograph is only a small piece in the jigsaw that makes up the big picture, but sometimes it is these small pieces that open our eyes to the broader reality.”

Available through Kehrer Verlag, Where the World is Melting accompanies an exhibition of Axelsson’s photos on view through May 26, 2029, at the Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar, Germany. Find more of his work on Instagram.

a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a bird flying over a snowy striated landscape
Mýrdalssandur, Iceland, 1996
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of an older man with a bear on a shore
Farmer Guðjón Þorsteinsson, Mýrdalur, Iceland, 1995
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of an older man with two foals on a beach
Jonas Madsen, Sandey, Faroe Islands, 1989
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a man with a team of sled dogs
Mikide Kristiansen, Thule, Greenland, 1999
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a man and two dogs
Masauna Kristiansen, Thule, Greenland, 1987
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a volcanic explosion
Glacier River, Highlands, Iceland, 2020
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a child in front of a small village
Sermiliqaq, Greenland, 1997
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a man and a seal
Hálfdán Björnsson, Kvísker, Iceland, 1968
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a man and a tree
Aleksandr on the Tundra, Siberia, 2016
a black and white photo by Ragnar Axelsson of a child and dog sitting on snow
Nenet’s Camp Side, Siberia, 2016

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Where the World is Melting’ Documents Communities Amid Indelible Changes in the Arctic appeared first on Colossal.

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