The following articles were printed from Santa Maria Sun [santamariasun.com] – Volume 23, Issue 16
Elverhoj Museum of History and Art celebrates all things Greenland with a majestic photography showcase
By CALEB WISEBLOOD
A new exhibition in Solvang highlighting photographs of Earth’s largest island, which is also “the least populated place in the world,” will be on display through the summer, explained the show’s curator, Esther Jacobsen Bates.
|
The Elverhoj Museum’s latest attraction, titled Greenland—Land of the Midnight Sun, includes scenic landscapes and intimate portraits from several different photographers, whose images have captured various aspects of the icy country.
|
“The larger photographs are printed on aluminum and create a sense of immersion in the environment,” said Bates, who described Greenland as a “land of contrasts.”
“The midnight sun bathes the island in daylight for months on end,” the curator said. “Extended periods of summer daylight are followed by a long, dark, cold winter when the sky is regularly illuminated by the colorful glow of the aurora borealis.”
The museum is hosting the Greenland exhibit as part of a joint venture with the Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County. The 14 institutions included in the group have mutually set out to “creatively explore the impacts of climate change,” through their respective programming, Bates said.
|
“Greenland has long piqued our visitors’ curiosity, and, as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, this island nation in the Arctic Circle was my first choice for our part in this collective effort,” said Bates, who visited Greenland briefly as a young child.
“It left a lasting impression. I was on a flight from LA to Denmark—my first trip on a plane and first trip to meet my grandparents—that flew the ‘polar route,’ stopping in Greenland to refuel,” she recalled. “I remember looking out the plane window at a vast white expanse and seeing a polar bear as we descended.”
|
Two polar bears are the subjects of one photo, Ice Bear and Cub, by photographer Magnus Elander, that immediately stuck out to Bates while she was organizing the Greenland exhibition, which debuted at the museum in May and is scheduled to remain on display through September.
Among the exhibit’s wide variety of subjects, a handful of the show’s featured photos capture recreational activities in Greenland, Bates said.
“The idea of recreation in this vast, remote environment is especially inviting in Red Sails Greenland, with the sailboats dwarfed by the spectacular iceberg floating in the blue sea, and in Hiking a Glacier, where hikers appear as dots alongside the beautiful turquoise-colored ponds on the surface of the ice sheet,” the curator commented.
|
One photo that quickly caught Bates’ eye was Tradition and Technology, by photographer David Trood, whose photo captured a group of three girls, all wearing traditional beaded yokes and boots, hovering over a smartphone during a summer solstice celebration.
The Elverhoj Museum is hosting a solstice celebration of its own on June 18, in the form of the venue’s annual Solstice Sundowner Benefit Party. Proceeds of this festive fundraiser—which is held in a lakeside, vineyard setting and includes food, wine, and other refreshments—support the museum’s variety of programming.
Over the past few weeks since the Greenland exhibit’s premiere, Bates has observed various responses from visitors, but one bittersweet reaction continues to stand out.
“A visitor came out of the gallery in tears and shared how the exhibition made her homesick for her native Greenland. It had been 10 years since her last visit,” Bates said. “The photographs evoked a longing that caught her by surprise.”
Catch Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood by surprise at [email protected].