For over four decades, Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson (b. 1958) has journeyed to the northernmost reaches of the world, capturing the stark beauty and resilient lives of those living in the Arctic. This exhibition draws from multiple bodies of work to present Axelsson’s deeply committed documentation of these remote landscapes and their inhabitants.
Axelsson began his career as a journalist. Driven by a sense of extreme urgency, he left the paper to focus on documenting the Arctic’s untold stories before they disappear. Hunting communities in the Arctic are integral to the cultural and social fabric of the North. Having passed down centuries-old traditions, the once-reliable sea ice now shifts unpredictably, reshaping hunting grounds and upending daily life for communities that depend on it. As the younger generation moves away from traditional hunting, Axelsson’s images reveal a world in transition.
Storm, Scoresbysund, Greenland, 2019
Axelsson immerses himself in Arctic communities for weeks, earning the trust and friendship necessary to portray the unguarded realities of their everyday lives. “I write down what people say and how they feel; I try to capture that in their eyes,” Axelsson explains. His work is both a race against time and a profound act of witnessing, as he aims to convey the effects of climate change as a very real presence for these communities, rather than an uncertain future.
Ragnar Axelsson draws us into a world of strength, solitude and haunting beauty — a poignant reminder of the delicate balance at the edge of existence.
Artist bio
A photojournalist at Morgunblaðið (1976 – 2020), Ragnar Axelsson has also worked on freelance assignments in Latvia, Lithuania, Mozambique, South Africa, China, Siberia, Russia, and Ukraine. His photographs have been featured in LIFE, Newsweek, Stern, GEO, National Geographic, Time, New Yorker, New York Times, and Polka, and have been exhibited widely.
Ragnar has published eight books in various international editions. His most recent book, Where the World is Melting, 2021 was shortlisted for the 2022 Prix Pictet prize. Arctic Heroes published in 2020, Jökull (Glacier) was published in 2018, with a foreword by Ólafur Elíasson. Andlit Nordursins (The Face of The North), was published in 2016, with a foreword by Mary Ellen Mark, and won the 2016 Icelandic Literary Prize for non-fiction. Other awards for Ragnar’s work include numerous Icelandic photojournalist awards; The Leica Oskar Barnack Award (Honorable Mention); the Grand Prize, Photo de Mer, Vannes; and Iceland’s highest honour, the Order of the Falcon, Knight’s Cross.
Prints are available to purchase from £1,600 + VAT. All profits from print sales support The Photographers’ Gallery’s public programme. Please enquire about Own Art to pay in instalments.
