Another Greenland. Most photographs from Greenland are showing the nature, icebergs, dog sledges etc. Seldom you see photos of the habitants and their lifes. In 1972, Per Kirkeby and Aqqaluk Lynge as directors, Peter Sakse as sound engineer and myself as cinematographer shot the documentary feature film “When the Authorities Said Stop”, about the closure of a whole city Qullissat, where we follow the Mathiesen family’s last time in the city and the family’s journey to their new town, Pamiut in South Greenland. The film is the first Greenlandic film and an important document in recent Greenlandic history.
The closure of Qullissat is one of the dark chapters in Greenland’s history, which the population has difficulty forgetting and forgiving. The city, which was once one of Greenland’s largest cities, is located on the northeast side of the island of Qeqertarsuag. The town arose in 1924 when the Danish state decided to build a coal mine that could supply Greenland with its own coal. After the Second World War it began to be considered unprofitable and in 1968 the Danish Parliament and Greenland’s National Council decided to close down the mine. In 1972, the mine and thus the town was finally closed, and the part of the population that had not moved voluntarily was forcibly relocated to other Greenlandic towns. This largest forced relocation of an urban community in Greenland’s history took place between 1970 and 1972 after many years of preparations. Folk life, family life, worker life, hunter life and other human relationships were pulled up by their roots, as a result of the closure of the coal mine could no longer keep the local community running. Family, friends and work colleagues were separated as they were forced to move to other cities and places of residence. The depopulation of Qullissat is an event which at the time was considered by many to be inevitable. The majority of the local population did not accept the closure but were forced to leave the city. Accepting the forced eviction was a difficult process for most of the residents and many have never really accepted the forced flight.
At the same time I shot a lot of still photographs, which now have been published in a book with text by Aqqaluk Lynge in both danish and greenlandic and an exhibition I have shown in 5 greenlandic cities and latest in The North Atlantic House, cultural center for Greenland, Iceland and The Faroe Islands in Copenhagen. My photographs are showing daily life as it was at that time, which is rare. I used my Pentax Spotmatic with 3 Takumar lenses, 35, 50 and 85 mm and Tri-X films developed in Promicrol. A few are shot on Kodachrome 64 and converted to B/ W. Scannings are done on my CanoScan FS-4000.
My website – www.teitjorgensen.dk
My books available here – edition-blondal.dk
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thorsten on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
(I am working on a story about AI in Photography for a german magazine just now)
Best from Lübeck!
/thorsten
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
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Paul Quellin on Greenlandic Moments
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John Earnshaw on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
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Mike on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
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Art Meripol on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
Thanks for sharing.
Teit Joergensen on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
Tessarist on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
Thanks for sharing.
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
peter grey on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
Peter Roberts on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 29/07/2023
The tragic story of a community being treated not as human beings but a commodity to be moved at will. In that respect it reminds me of Chris Killip's work, his sea coal series in particular.
Thanks so much for posting, I'll be remembering these images for a long time.
Peter
Dogman on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 30/07/2023
Bill Brown on Greenlandic Moments
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Eric Rose on Greenlandic Moments
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Eric
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Scott Gitlin on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 31/07/2023
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Comment posted: 06/08/2023
James on Greenlandic Moments
Comment posted: 09/08/2023