Foreign Objects: The Transformation of a Greenlandic Landscape

Since 2021 I have been working on a photo book project exploring the remote Arctic landscape of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, a former indigenous hunting ground that has been reshaped by its history as a Cold War American air base and the impact of climate change. Over the past 80 years, Kangerlussuaq has evolved into a distinctive — often surreal and quirky — environment unlike other Greenlandic towns and settlements.
See images below, read more information about the series and follow #walkingingreenland on Instagram.

Room 1: The Journey of Ice and Water The two rooms of my photographs at the Kangerlussuaq Museum introduce visitors to the area. One room traces the journey of ice as it travels from the ice sheet that covers about 80% of Greenland downriver to the mouth of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord at the town bridge. Advance to next slide for second room. Room 2: Base History & Wildlife The two rooms of my photographs at the Kangerlussuaq Museum introduce visitors to the area. One room features then-and-now comparisons of sites from the Air Base days, sites for science, native wildlife, and the musk oxen imported here in the 1960s. Click arrows to view the individual photos and wall text. Advance to next slide for individual photos and wall text. Ice Cap at Point 660, Autumn (2021)
archival pigment print, 16 x 24 inches About 80% of the interior of Greenland is covered by the vast Greenland ice sheet. Point 660 is located about 30 km east of Kangerlussuaq at the end of the road built in 1999. In autumn, the streams freeze and snowstorms coat the ice. Ice Cap at Point 660, Midsummer (2022)
archival pigment print, 16 x 24 inches In summer, streams of meltwater form between mounds of ice dusted with gravel and flow towards the river. Greenland Ice Cap in Summer (2023)
acrylic on high density urethane, 17.25 x 15.25 x 1.75 inches This sculpture was derived from a 3D scan of a small section of the ice cap near Point 660, not far from where the previous photograph of the ice cap in summer was taken. The dark blue represents the streams of water that had formed under the summer sun. The Changing “Reindeer Glacier” 2022 vs. 2018
archival pigment prints, 8 x 18 inches each Photographs taken in the summers of 2022 (top) and 2018 (bottom) show the visible ice loss over four years due to the warming Arctic climate when the two photos are compared. Some people refer to this section of the Russell Glacier as the “Reindeer Glacier.” The Changing Russell Glacier (1955, 2022)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 29.375 and 12 x 18 inches The Russell Glacier flows off the Greenland ice sheet. Its front is located 25 km east of Kangerlussuaq. Photographs taken by Glazer in 2022 (top) and Danish glaciologist Børge Fristrup in 1955 show the ice loss over those decades. Fristrup (1918-1985) participated in and led a number of scientific expeditions iand played a major role in investigations of the Greenland ice sheet. (Fristrup photo: Danish Arctic Institute) 20 years ago, this rocky area crossed by visitors to Point 660 to walk onto the ice cap was covered by the ice sheet. As the ice sheet melts and its edge recedes inland, it uncovers the permafrost (a layer of soil that is frozen year round) to the sun. Without its cover of white ice to reflect the sun’s rays, the dark soil absorbs heat, melting the permafrost, so large cracks have now developed, exposing once-buried ice. Streams of meltwater run through these cracks in the summer. Permafrost Cracks, Point 660 (2022)
archival pigment print, 12 x 18 inches Waterfall Along Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua (2022)
archival pigment print, 12 x 18 inches At the height of summer, a powerful waterfall churns with meltwater from the ice sheet on its way to the Kangerlussuaq Fjord. Glacial Silt, Kangerlussuaq Fjord (2021)
archival pigment print, 12 x 18 inches Every summer, the soupy mix of melted ice and fine glacial silt from the Greenland ice sheet settles in the fjord after passing beneath the town bridge. Here, as autumn arrives, the water level decreases, revealing semi-frozen mud — and quicksand. The Story of the Ice Road
archival pigment prints, 12 x 18 inches and 8 x 12 inches In 1999 the now-defunct auto testing company Nausta built a 30-km road from Kangerlussuaq to the inland ice sheet in order to test drive cars for Volkswagen year round on the ice, and in 2000 began to lay a 150-km road on the ice itself at the end of which they planned to build a track and a facility housing 40 workers. But by 2006, the project was abandoned as impractical due to ice sheet dynamics. Today the gravel road conveys visitors and scientists to the ice. The road’s end, now known as Point 660, also provides a benchmark for the effects of climate change. When the road was built, vehicles could drive onto the ice near the end of the road. Now visitors walk down a steep gravel hill (or moraine) formerly covered by the ice cap to get there. Top photos by Helen Glazer of the end of the road at Point 660 and a tour group walking on the ice. Bottom photos by Søren Thorbjørn Hansen of convoys on the ice road en route to the testing site in winter 2000-2001. View of Kangerlussuaq from Black Ridge (2022)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 18 inches and 8 x 12 inches Most of the buildings in Kangerlussuaq were originally built for the Sondrestrom Air Base, as can be seen when you compare these photos from 2022 and 1968. Kangerlussuaq Looking Toward Black Ridge (1950-51 and 2022)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 18 inches each Kangerlussuaq was always used by generations of Greenlanders for hunting in summer and transport in winter, but no permanent residents lived in Kangerlussuaq until construction of Sondrestrom Air Base by the US Air Force began in the 1940s. The bottom photo, made by a conscript in the Royal Danish Navy living at the base, documents how it looked before it was significantly expanded in the 1950s and ‘60s. (Helmudt photo: Danish Arctic Institute) Air Traffic Control Tower: Welcome to Sondrestrom Air Base
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8 x 12 inches each A sign in front of the air traffic control tower once welcomed visitors to the Sondrestrom Air Base. Today the yellow bars that held the sign remain, but are now enclosed inside a gated enclosure surrounding the runway. (Bottom photo: Danish Arctic Institute) Female Musk Ox (2022)
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12 x 18 inches The thousands of musk oxen (Ovibos moschatus) roaming the hills surrounding Kangerlussuaq today are descended from just 27 calves brought here from East Greenland in the 1960s in an effort to perpetuate the species and establish them in West Greenland. Musk Oxen Relocation Crates (1968)
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8 x 12 inches Storage containers for musk ox calves, numbered and identified male or female, before a joint Denmark-US relocation operation to transport calves from Kangerlussuaq to re-establish a herd in Northwest Greenland. (Photo: Tech. Sgt. Jose Hernandez, USAF, US National Archives) Arctic Hare, Old Camp (2022)
archival pigment print, 12 x 12 inches An Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) springs from the bushes in Old Camp. Its summer coat of gray fur will turn white as winter approaches. Caribou on a Rock (2022)
archival pigment print, 12 x 18 inches A male Barren-ground Caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) pauses on a flat rock in the hills above Kangerlussuaq on a summer evening. Members of the genus Rangifer are called caribou in North America and reindeer in Eurasia. Sondrestrom Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility (2022 and 1984)
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12 x 18 inches and 8 x 12 inches The imposing 32-meter antenna dish stands on a hilltop near the Kangerlussuaq Harbor known as Kellyville, after John Kelly, who was instrumental in moving the radar project to Kangerlussuaq in 1983. The bottom photo shows the site following year. Scientists from around the world conducted research into auroras and other ionospheric phenomena there, under the auspices of the US National Science Foundation and the Danish Meteorological Institute until 2018, when the facility closed. In 2023 a Canadian university took over the antenna and removed the old buildings around it to construct new ones. (1984 photo courtesy Danish Arctic Institute) Site of Greenland’s First Airplane Runway (2022)
archival pigment print, 12 x 18 inches Weathered triangular plywood markers weighted with rocks mark the outline of the site of Greenland’s first runway, originally prepared in 1928 on the Fossil Plains, a natural raised clay terrace alongside the Kangerlussuaq Fjord. The original runway served the University of Michigan Greenland Expedition, led by William Herbert Hobbs, which conducted meteorological research from a hilltop near Kangerlussuaq Harbor. Rocket Launch Pad (2022 and 1974)
archival pigment prints, 8 x 12 inches In the 1970s, five concrete rocket launch pads for meteorological experiments were installed east of the base along the shore of Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua. Increased water flow from the melting ice cap have heavily eroded the banks in this section of the river, leading to the collapse of all but one of the original platforms into the river. The 2022 photo shows the only remaining platform on land. (Bottom photo by Jørgen Taagholt, Danish Arctic Institute) Airport Building (2022)
Airport Building and Military Barracks (1961)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 18 inches The airport building has been altered and added to since 1961, when the bottom photo was taken by Jens Fabricius. Across the road once stood round-roofed Quonset huts housing soldiers at Sondrestrom Air Base. (Bottom photo: Danish Arctic Institute) Signpost, Kangerlussuaq Airport (2022)
Andreas Lund-Drosvad with Signpost (1959)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 8 inches Kangerlussuaq’s iconic red and white signpost originally stood in front of this museum building, then the Danish Hotel before being relocated to the airport. In 2014 the signpost was renovated by Air Greenland, changing the flight times, adding cities, and removing the SAS company emblem from the top. Andreas “Suko” Lund-Drosvad (1899-1989) posed with the sign in 1959. He was an adventurous Dane who came to Greenland in the 1920s and settled in Upernavik where he lived for many decades and established the Upernavik Museum. (Bottom photo: Danish Arctic Institute) Air Greenland Hangar (2022) (2022)
Hangar, Building S-511 (1954)
archival pigment prints, 12 x 8 inches The hangar as it looks today and when it served the Sondrestrom Air Base. Bottom photo: US National Archives Greenland Ice Cap in Summer (2023) Permafrost Cracks, Point 660 (2022) Caribou Pausing on a Rock (2022) Sondrestrom Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility (2022 and 1984) Air Traffic Control Tower: Welcome to Sondrestrom Air Base, Kangerlussuaq Museum The Changing “Reindeer Glacier” 2022 vs. 2018 Waterfall Along Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua (2022) and Glacial Silt, Kangerlussuaq Fjord (2021) The Story of the Ice Road, Kangerlussuaq Museum The Story of the Ice Road, Kangerlussuaq Museum Kangerlussuaq Looking Toward Black Ridge, Kangerlussuaq Museum The Changing Russell Glacier (1955, 2022) View of Kangerlussuaq from Black Ridge (2022) Ice Cap at Point 660, Autumn (2021) Musk Oxen (2022) and Crates from Musk Ox Relocation (1986) Arctic Hare, Old Camp (2022), Kangerlussuaq Museum The Journey of Ice and Water - Kangerlussuaq Museum The Journey of Ice and Water - Kangerlussuaq Museum The Journey of Ice and Water - Kangerlussuaq Museum The Journey of Ice and Water - Kangerlussuaq Museum The Journey of Ice and Water - Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History, Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History and Wildlife, Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History and Wildlife, Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History and Wildlife, Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History and Sites for Science, Kangerlussuaq Museum Base History, Kangerlussuaq Museum Ice Cap at Point 660, Midsummer (2022) Site of Greenland’s First Airplane Runway (2022) Helen Glazer Rocket Launch Pad (2022) Jørgen Taagholt Launch Pad with Rocket (1974) Helen Glazer Airport Building (2022) Jens Fabricius Airport Building and Military Barracks (1961) (Collection Danish Arctic Institute) Signpost, Kangerlussuaq Airport (2022) and Andreas Lund-Drosvad with Signpost (1959) Air Greenland Hangar (2022) Hangar, Building S-511 (1954)

Project Description
Combining my photographs, vintage photos from archives, and short texts, I am working on a photo book about how human decisions and activity over the past 80 years have strikingly altered the land and ecology, both physically and culturally. Over three visits in 2021-2023 I have completed the principal photography, identified vintage photographs in archives, and gathered stories and information from past and current residents, American and Danish veterans, and scholars who have worked there. My book will be the first book of any kind in any language about Kangerlussuaq. The task ahead of me is to shape the rich and extensive cache of raw material that I have collected into book form in a way that does justice to this complex, multi-dimensional story.

Background
Kangerlussuaq was founded by the US Air Force as what became known as Sondrestrom Air Base from 1941 to 1992. The site at the end of a 118-mile-long fjord just above the Arctic Circle was chosen for the most dependable flying weather in Greenland, and with the construction of a runway capable of landing heavy planes and base infrastructure it attracted foreign business interests and became a scientific research hub. Today some 450 people live here. Repurposed and abandoned buildings and obsolete machinery remain, as do some 20,000 musk oxen descended from 27 imported in an effort to preserve the species in the 1960s. In 1999, Volkswagen Motors of Germany built a 19-mile road through the tundra from the town to the ice sheet covering 80% of Greenland for a short-lived, highly secretive, project to test drive cars year-round on the ice. The project lasted just a few years before being abandoned but the road's end provides a benchmark for the ravages of climate change. Formerly the place where the auto testing crew could drive right onto the ice sheet edge toward their inland track, it is now the top of a long gravel slope uncovered by melting ice as its margin retreats each summer. The impacts of melting ice are also noticeable miles downstream; erosion from the increased flow of water from the melting ice and the soupy swirl of silt it carries are visible along the river from the ice cap to the fjord.

 

Inspiration and Collaboration: My first brief stay in Kangerlussuaq in August 2018 was as the final 24-hour stop on an educationally oriented tour of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a day that included a visit to the Kangerlussuaq Museum, which then focused on 20th-century military and aviation history, and a bus trip to the ice sheet that covers 80% of Greenland. I recognized Kangerlussuaq as a site combining two themes that I had explored in the Baltimore Ecosystem Study project and Walking in Antarctica: how human activity and infrastructure become part of a site's ecology, and the geological features of polar environments. I established a collaborative relationship with the Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq Museums and received a Rubys Award for Baltimore artists from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation for my first trip, which was postponed due to the pandemic until September 2021.

Kangerlussuaq Museum Installation: The past and current directors of the Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq Museums have provided historical information and logistical assistance. They were interested in updating exhibits that had remained unchanged for over 25 years to focus on the surrounding environment and then-and-now comparisons of the area during the base days and today that I sourced from Danish and US archives and a local resident. On September 7, 2023, a new two-room permanent exhibit funded with the assistance of the US Embassy in Copenhagen Small Grants Program opened, shown in the above images. I designed, produced, wrote wall text, and installed it in collaboration with museum director Dorthe Katrine Olsen. It includes 22 of my photographs, 12 vintage photographs and a hand-painted sculpture based on a 3D scan of a small portion of the ice sheet, a process that I also used in my Walking in Antarctica project.

See More Photos: More photos from the project have been posted on my Facebook and Instagram profiles, or search Instagram for #walkingingreenland.