Greenland’s Big Ice is melting. How do we melt the ice in the human heart? Art will save the day. Photography by Emile Holba.
Illustrations by Brian Goggin.
Audio by Charles Monroe-Kane. Website design by Emile Holba.
All rights reserved by Sermersuaq: The Last Ice Project.
No reproduction without prior permission.
In 2025, in preparation for the project, artists Brian Goggin, Charles Monroe-Kane, and Emile Holba spent a month photographing and interviewing Greenlandic Inuit in the town of Illulissat. They were invited into people’s homes for coffee and food and fellowship. Some of the folks they met became cultural advisors. Some, practical collaborators. And others, well, they became friends.
Here are the Greenlandic Inuit Collaborators to Sermersuaq: The Last Ice Project.
Karl Sandgreen
Karl is Greenlandic Inuit and the director of the Ilulissat Icefjord Center in Ilulissat, Kalallit Nunnat (Greenland). The Last Ice exhibit will be permanently housed at the center. He is collaborating with The Last Ice team on practical exhibition details and expedition permits as well as consulting on the freezer system for The Last Ice sculpture.
The icefjord is a UNESCO world heritage site. It houses samples of an actual ice core from Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) Ice Sheet that spans over 8000 feet. The ice core dates back tens of thousands of years. It shows the effects humans have had on the climate from the lead created by the Roman Empire to the massive amounts of CO₂ we have emitted in recent years. The ice core lays bare the truth of climate change. Are we ready to listen to the story the ice has to tell us?
Laila & Hans are Greenlandic Inuit and owners of Explore Ilulissat. They will be collaborating with The Last Ice team with all on-site logistics. They will coordinate the journey between Ilulissat, Kalallit Nunnat (Greenland) and the Ilulissat Kangerlua (Ilulissat Icefjord) where the ice for the project will be extracted. This includes food, dog sled and snowmobile transportation, safety, and lodging on the Ilulissat Kangerlua (Ilulissat Icefjord).
Ilulissat’s international airport is new. Cruise ships are entering Ilulissat’s Disko Bay. Hans Sandgreen’s family owns the only Greenlandic Inuit hotel in town but it is dwarfed by the newly built Best Western. Most of Kalaallit Nunaat’s (Greenland’s) tourist dollars flow away from the island. As the sea ice melts, tourists rush to see the increasing flow of icebergs. But what does that mean for the Greenlandic Inuit people who live here?
Ole is Greenlandic Inuit and a master dog sled maker who lives in Ilulissat, Kalallit Nunnat (Greenland). He is collaborating with The Last Ice team on the building of the dog sleds for the expedition and is assisting logistics for the ice extraction on the Ilulissat Kangerlua (Ilulissat Icefjord).
Dog sledding is a way of life for the Greenlandic Inuit people. People used to joke that there were more dogs in Ilulissat than people. Not anymore. Everyone here remembers a time when you could travel the sea ice on a dog sled. Now, no one can. What does it mean for a culture when a way of life disappears?
Ole Svensden peeking out of one of his business storage containers.
Tina is a Greenlandic Inuit café worker at the Icefjord Centre. She is contributing to the Last Ice team as a community liaison and translator.
What is it like to be a young person in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) today? With one foot in traditional ways and another in the modern world, where do they end up? They are excited about the new international airport (“an easier way out.”) but they have inherited the specter of climate change. What do they want?
Arna is Greenlandic Inuit and a fisherman who lives in Ilulissat, Kalallit Nunnat (Greenland). He is collaborating with The Last Ice team by assisting Ole Svendsen on the building of the dog sleds for the expedition and is assisting logistics for the ice extraction on the Ilulissat Kangerlua (Ilulissat Icefjord).
It’s not all gloom and doom surrounding climate change in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland). As the sea ice disappears, fishermen can fish more and more months in their boats. As Kalaallit Nunaat warms, what is gained and what is lost? Ilulissat harbour, frozen in.