Photography by Tiina Itkonen

The photographs below range from immense frozen landscapes to intimate portraits of the Inuit people. Ms. Itkonen’s photographs capture the beauty and serenity of this magnificent frontier whilst giving us a glimpse into the lives of the Arctic Polar Eskimos.

in her own words....

"The landscapes I have photographed are in places where I have spent time, returning to them again and again. I explore these landscapes at dawn, in the moonlight and when snow is falling. Silence is a part of the landscape. I wait, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, for the right moment to take photographs. I love taking photographs when the weather is cloudy or misty, it is then that the light flattens. There is only whiteness and a few icebergs. Like in a dream. "

"The landscape in Greenland is barren, cold and limitless. When there are no trees or buildings in front of you, you can see so far into the distance that the space has a calming, hypnotic effect. This huge space is difficult to capture within the limits of a photograph. The picture doesn’t tell us what is close by and what is faraway, what is big and what is small. Icebergs are as big as apartment blocks, an island that seems within easy reach is in fact 20 kilometres away. Nor do my eyes make clear distinctions between objects. "

"It takes time to find suitable locations to photograph. Movement through this landscape is not easy. There are no roads between the towns. To get from one town to another you have to rely on helicopters, small planes or boats. Travel is only possible when weather conditions are suitable: perhaps tomorrow, “immaqa agaqu”. I get to know the villages and their surroundings on foot. Away from the villages I travel with hunters, by boat or dog sleigh. By dog sleigh, the journeys last for hours; we are silent, listening only to the runners on the snow. The landscape changes gradually. I watch the landscape like a slow motion movie."

"My favourite place to look at icebergs is Ilulissat, which is on an ice-fjord. It is a UNESCO world heritage site because of the large number of icebergs which form there. The icebergs are different shades of white or blue and crystal bright. The biggest icebergs can reach 100 metres in height with the larger part of them hidden underwater. Once they have broken away from the ice-field, they may float as far as 4 000 kilometres away before they melt. It is said that the iceberg which sank the Titanic came from the Ilulissat ice-fjord."

"There is clear evidence of global warming in Greenland. The ice-fields are shrinking and new land is appearing. The winters are milder and the sea no longer freezes as it used to. The sea did not freeze in Ilulissat last year and even further north the sea ice is thinner each winter, these days it will only support a persons weight for two or three months of the year. This climate change threatens the fishermen, hunters and their dog sleighs."

Inughuit, (published by Libruis Oy in 2004) Tiina Itkonen's first book is a serene tribute to the Inuit people of Greenland. Ms. Itkonen has spent many months living with Polar Eskimos since her first visit in 1995. The images are from her book 'Inughuit' a portrait of the lives and landscapes of the modern Polar Eskimos.

Born in Helsinki in 1968, Tiina Itkonen studied photography at the School of Art and Communication in Turku and at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Her work has been exhibited extensively across Europe and the USA. Her work is held in permanent collections at the Modern Museum of Stockholm, Helsinki City Art Museum, The Finnish Museum of Photography, and the Finnish State Art Collection, to name a few. Private collections can be found in, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America.
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I want to thank Ms. Marjukka Uusitalo from Galleria Uusitalo in Helsinki, for providing me with the material and introductions to make this post possible. Thank You Marjukka!

Enjoy!

©All photos property of Tiina Itkonen