MUNICH.- "Never has it been more important than now to document, in words and images, the lives of the people of the Arctic and the changes they are undergoing, so that the world can see what is happening.” (Ragnar Axelsson, *1958 in Reykjavik)

Eight states, a multitude of Indigenous peoples, rival great powers: the Arctic is at once a homeland, a climate indicator, geopolitical terrain, and a reservoir of resources. In the Arctic, what global heating is causing becomes drastically apparent: permafrost is thawing, coastlines are eroding, ecosystems are being thrown off their centuries-old courses. The retreat of the ice is increasingly making itself felt globally as well: sea levels are rising and weather systems are falling out of balance.

At the same time, power-political and economic appetites are growing. New shipping routes, more easily accessible raw materials, and geopolitical tensions are turning the Arctic into an arena of conflict. Since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine - but also owing to China’s ambitions for a "Polar Silk Road" - the urgently needed multilateral engagement for climate protection is dwindling even further. Most recently, GREENLAND, in particular, has become a projection screen for imperialist narratives and fantasies. Respect for international law, trust in international institutions, and the willingness to engage in supranational cooperation have declined on many levels.





For more than 40 years, the Icelander Ragnar Axelsson has been photographing people, animals, and landscapes in the most remote regions of Greenland, Iceland, and Siberia. In dramatic black-and-white images, he captures the existential human experience at the edge of the habitable world. Rather than merely illustrating climate change, his photographs reveal how environmental changes are experienced by the people whose livelihoods depend on land, sea, and ice.

The exhibition Ragnar Axelsson Greenland comprises 60 works. His magnificent photographs and texts convey both beauty and vulnerability. They tell, with great empathy, of resilience, loss, dignity, and a way of life under pressure from an outside world that ignores their existence or seeks to dictate to them how they are to live. Ragnar Axelsson’s Greenland shows the reality of a rapidly changing world – a place of singular beauty and constant peril. A world melting before our eyes – with incalculable global consequences.