People Have Always Told Stories

Some stories end up in archives, while others live on through oral tradition. Some become official truths; others are forgotten or rendered invisible. Stories have always existed, yet they are shaped, erased, or reclaimed depending on power, place, and time. Lars’ and Inuk’s work represent two narratives that, in different ways, illuminate Greenland’s history, memory, and colonial structures — both past and present. Lars’ Danish project uses the archival backs of photographs, where notes and names reveal power hierarchies: the Danish members of the expedition are identified with full names, titles, and clear subjectivity, while the Inuit are objectified and described as types. Inuk’s Greenlandic project, based on oral memories and landscapes, gives voice to personal and collective heritage and addresses issues such as uranium mining near the mountains — where extractive interests continue to fuel Western consumerism with little regard for nature, animals, or human life. The work also creates an encounter between photographic and filmic media in book form.