Isfjord (Icefjord), conditions over night, dig. photo, Spitsbergen, May 2018
Artistic research on Spitsbergen, 2018 When everyone is at sleep at night there is still light. Alongside my function as 2nd officer on sailing vessel Noorderlicht I work as a visual artist. I try to catch the transience of the polar region and its natural processes with film and photography. At watch I look for former claims and traces of exploitation. And I make my own marks in the landscape with compositions of locally found elements from natural or industrial sources. As an act or small gesture to emphasise the land its own space or purposes. Ownership, heroism and vulnerability, related to the history of human presence in wild nature, have my interest. The imagery of these great adventures, their flags, hopes or downfalls as traces or leftovers in the landscape. I reflect within my own adventurous desires and hopes on the last bits of wilderness, by re-framing what exists, while leaving my own traces.
Miners at Svea coal mine, photo early 20th century, LA SHIPA; History of Large Scale Resource Exploitation in Polar Areas, 2012
Traces of coal mine industry, Russian (former Dutch) station, Barentsburg, Spitsbergen, May 2018
At coal mine no. 5, installation h. 1.85 m, buoy, rope, hose, steel,
Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, June 2018
At the bottom of a deserted mine hill no. 5, a buoy from the sea is connected to an iron beam, which put out from the landscape. It occupies a certain space.
Movement of ice landscapes, sketches by prof. M.J.J.E. Loonen, ecologist, Arctic Center University of Groningen; their research station is based at 78° N, Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen