An Arctic Epic

Name: An arctic exploration
Year 2020 - in progress
Category Part of the group exhibition A gust of wind wakes us from our slumber at Fotografihuset, autumn 2025.

Notes An ultimate goal for this project is to find a good home for the glass slides, so they can be preserved for posterity. The slides need to be cared for by an institute with more resources and funds than the owners have today.

The title An Arctic Epic is borrowed from the book An Arctic Epic of Family and Fortune by Jette Elsebeth Ashlee.

The story of Størker T. Størkersen is one I grew up with in my family. My father has always talked about what Størker did in Canada, and this has been an epic story, with invaluable image material, that I have wanted to share with others.

The image material has been in my family for generations. This selection comes from an archive of over 140 slides, which have been buried during the war and in various ways have been protected by the family since Størkersen's death. In addition to slides, there is both a camera, a slide projector and several clippings from Norwegian newspaper articles that deal with various parts of his story and the lectures he gave in Norway about the polar expeditions he participated in.

Størker's images represent a part of Norwegian polar history and photo history that has not previously been shown. The images were hidden during World War II to protect them during the destruction of Finnmark. The images have been preserved in the family since they were rediscovered after the war, and are privately owned by the Lauritzen/Størkersen family. These images are unique in their kind, and the aim is to make them available to the public, and tell a part of Norwegian polar history that has not been previously known. This includes different aspects and the use of photography as a tool to document a place, its inhabitants and lifestyle. Størker's perspective also reflects Størker as part of a growing generation of men who at that time settled in unknown lands, renamed places to be named after themselves, and eventually also married the indigenous population and had children together.