The Arctic conjures up emptiness, and harsh temperatures prevent most travelers from reaching barren, sparsely populated landscapes. On the one hand, the wilderness wants to kill you, and on the other hand, life is possible and it goes on. What happens in these remote places has an impact on all of us, and it's important for people to be aware of these developments.
Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer explores the Arctic through architectural lenses in his new book Polar Silk Roads. Over the course of four years, the photographer visited Canada, Norway, Greenland and Iceland to photograph some of the world's northernmost buildings.
"It was clear from the start that there wasn't much architecture in the Arctic, so I came back with relatively little material," Sailer said of his early travels. Later, he focused his attention on more than a dozen remote scientific research facilities, military bases, and centers for economic development and raw material extraction.
Build fortresses in barren landscapes
While filming, Sailer endured a blizzard and temperatures below minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. He used an analog camera that didn't rely on batteries (batteries would quickly drain at temperatures below freezing). The use of physical film still leaves photographers vulnerable to elements because it can easily be damaged or lost. Still, Sailer prefers analog cameras: "Part of the game is risk. It increases my awareness, calms me more, and improves my perception. ”
At the EastGRIP research facility in Greenland, scientists drilled ice sheets to understand previous climatic conditions and the behavior of ice flows.
Antennas, satellite antennas, and power cords suspended between radar towers can be found at military bases and research facilities. These facilities are usually simple and cold. Consisting of sharp geometric shapes and exposed structural elements, their functional forms stand out in the desolation of the environment.
"It's important for the audience to feel the environment and dimensions of this vast, surreal landscape." Awareness of space is ubiquitous in the "Polar Silk Road". Sailer's photographs emphasize the colors and shapes of the buildings rather than their size, giving the viewer a sense of unobstructed view of their surroundings.
The China Ice Arctic Observatory is the result of scientific cooperation between research institutions of the two countries.
Powers are vying for influence
The Arctic may include vast tracts of desolate land, but it is now the subject of growing geopolitical interests. Sailer borrowed the name from China's ", a government-backed proposal to develop infrastructure and freight in the Far North." The title of the book, like its contents, speaks of the competition and cooperation that defines international relations in the region.
Several of Sailer's photos focus on the China-Iceland Arctic Observatory (CIAO), a joint effort between the two countries to collect data on the interactions between the Sun and the Earth in the polar atmospheres such as the Aurora Borealis. Elsewhere, the Northern Early Warning System (NWS) is an air defense early warning radar system jointly built by the United States and Canada.
Günter Köck, coordinator of the International Research Program at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, writes that the Arctic's territorial claims are more than just self-defense — they are meant to control resources hidden beneath melting ice, such as oil and gas.
In 2016, the Canadian government announced that it would invest C$200 million ($158 million) to build a new highway that would "reduce the cost of living in Tuktoyaktuk... Increase business development opportunities, reduce onshore costs and offshore oil and gas opportunities, and strengthen Canadian sovereignty in the North."
Climate change is the engine
The economic, military, and scientific growth documented in the book has a single clue: climate change is an imminent threat. Many of the buildings photographed at Tuktoyaktuk were subjected to continuous erosion by permafrost, and older buildings began to tilt and sink into the ground due to the erosion of the ice due to damaged foundations.
Some facilities are dedicated to understanding climate change — such as the Ice Core Drilling Site in Greenland's Concroux Wacker, where international researchers have analyzed hundreds of thousands of years of ice buildup to better understand changing atmospheric and weather patterns.
Sailer hopes that by publishing The Polar Silk Road, he can show the public how the development of the Arctic is affected by climate change. "As a photographer, my job is to go to lesser-known places that are impacting society and bring these events to light," he said. "I'm providing these images in the hope of sparking a discussion and wanting people to start thinking about these topics or thinking about the world around them in a new way."