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.
During their month-long research trip to the Greenlandic Inuit town of Ilulissat in 2025, the artist team made deep connections with a host of locals who generously offered their hospitality and wisdom. While not formal collaborators on the project team, they have contributed in meaningful ways and become friends and champions of the The Last Ice project.
Johanne is a Greenlandic Inuit traditional clothing maker. Photographed in her home.
Greenlandic Inuit men hunt and fish. Greenlandic Inuit women cook and sew. And when they sew, they use seal skin and polar bear fur and caribou. In Ilulissat the women elders gather every Thursday night for sewing and gossip and baked goods. Are their granddaughters learning the old ways.
Josef, artistically known simply as ‘Tarrak’ is a Greenlandic Inuit actor and rapper and the face of Kalaallit Nunaat’s (Greenland’s) independence movement. Photographed in his hotel room amongst his recoridng equipment. Finalising his 3rd LP.
More and more young people are demanding independence from Denmark. But the melting of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) makes its mineral-rich land and strategic shipping lanes more and more desirable to other countries. If Denmark leaves, who will replace it? The Greenlandic Inuit people? Or someone else?
Paninnguaq is a traditional Greenlandic Inuit throat singer apprentice. Photographed on the stage of Ilulissat’s Kulturikkut, where she has performed a number of times.
Christian missionaries nearly wiped out women’s Greenlandic Inuit throat singing. But not completely, as it is having a resurgence with young Greenlandic Inuit women today. Paninnguaq is glamorous and modern, yet she recently posted the seal she hunted to Instagram. Can the old ways and the new ways both survive?
Kristian is a Greenlandic Inuit cab driver, hunter, and youth advocate. Photographed outside his home.
Kristian is an everything man. He plays guitar and piano. He drives a cab. He hunts narwhal and belugas. He coaches soccer. But a massive scar on his face from a suicide attempt exposes an unspoken truth of a growing suicide problem in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) (which has far and away the world’s worst suicide rate, six times the global average). As traditional Greenlandic Inuit ways are threatened, how does its loss bear down on the mental health of a people? Ilulissat, March 2025.
Anso & Flemming are the owners of Arctic Living Ilulissat. Photographed pre-dawn outside their home.
The couple takes tourists on long-distance inland dog sled trips. Anso is Greenlandic Inuit, born and raised in Ilulissat. Her husband Flemming is Danish and the Chief of Police for the Kommunia of Avannaata. As they await their first grandchild they lament that their grandchildren will not be able to be traditional dog sledders on the sea ice.
Kund Karl is Greenlandic Inuit and the licensee of Neo-Radio 94mhz. Radio Bingo every Thursday night...
Knud has been running Ilulissat’s radio station since 1987. He’s seen it all. Interviewed all the politicians for the recent Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) elections, keeps everyone abreast of the weather, takes music requests, and even runs a weekly radio bingo. He has seen, firsthand, how climate change has affected the culture of the people here.