Mette Tronvoll
Isortoq Unartoq

The point of departure of work of Mette Tronvoll is her anthropological and ethnographic interest.

The aesthetic approach to her subjects, expressing something of the essence of humanity, makes the photographs more than purely documentary images.

“The photograph conveys the relationship with the world that each person carries inside themselves. The manner in which a pose is assumed (or not), integrates social meaning, customs… The exotic becomes close and intimate, whilst the familiar seems abstract, strange, far away, creating a sense of both participation and alienation,” says Tronvoll,
“I was interested in how location is reflected in culture, which is particularly evident in this series.”

In the summers of 1998 and 1999 Mette Tronvoll travelled on her own to Greenland, camping next to the warm water springs on the island of Unartoq and spending some time near a reindeer station in Isortoq.
The photograph of this Greenland couple in a natural warm water spring, is one of a series she produced during her visit, Isortoq Unartoq. The picture series is a mixture of landscape photographs of the arctic environment, and of portraits of the local inhabitants bathing in the warm water springs.
The man and woman look squarely into the camera; their facial expressions are neutral, and they do not appear to be posing.