Glacial blue ice from the Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) Ice Sheet will be transformed into a reverential sculpture, a reliquary, traveling the world as a frozen ambassador, representing the interests of the Arctic environment and the Indigenous peoples who reside there.
Website Credits: Photography, website design and build by Emile Holba. Illustrations by Brian Goggin. Audio by Charles Monroe-Kane. Text by Brian Goggin, Charles Monroe-Kane and Emile Holba. All rights reserved by Sermersuaq: The Last Ice Project. No reproduction without prior permission.
The Sermersuaq glacial ice for the project will be extracted and carved in winter on the Ilulissat Icefjord. It will then be transported to the mainland via a Greenlandic Inuit dog sled. There the ice will be added to the reliquary.
To read, and see, more about the reliquary that will house the ice and about the special dog sled that was built to transport it, please read below. Ilustration by Brian Goggin.
‘A reliquary is a container, often a box or shrine, used to hold and display holy relics. These relics are typically parts of the body or belongings of a deceased holy person, venerated as sacred objects.’
- Oxford Learners Dictionaries. The Glacial Ice Freezer Reliquary will feature a twenty-foot-long, six-foot-wide outer shell shaped like a capsule, with sleek, aerodynamic curves inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car. The capsule’s frame will be constructed from steel and salvaged oak timber reclaimed from California forest fires—materials related to the destruction caused by climate change.
The exterior will be fitted with double-pane E-glass, enclosing a sculpted glass container designed to hold a gem-shaped piece of glacial ice. This container will be filled with silicon oil, which prevents sublimation while allowing the ice’s natural, luminous blue tones to remain visible. The chamber surrounding the glass container will be maintained at minus 12 degrees Celsius to preserve the ice.
The entire system will be solar powered, and when exhibited at the Icefjord Center in Ilulissat, it will run on local hydroelectric energy. The reliquary is not only a technological achievement but also a poetic vessel—preserving a vanishing piece of Greenland’s ancient ice as a symbol of planetary fragility.
Brian’s early illustrations for the Glacial Ice Reliquary.Brian’s early illustrations for the Glacial Ice Reliquary.
Bombus Polaris
Bombus Polaris is one of only two bumblebees that live above the Arctic Circle. The dog sled built to carry the blue Sermersuaq glacial ice from the Ilulissat Icefjord was named ‘Bombus Polaris‘ after a resilient Arctic bumblebee species. Known for its ability to survive near-freezing temperatures, it is a social bee whose queens and workers can often be seen basking in the conical petals of Arctic poppies (Papaver radicatum), which act like miniature mirrors reflecting sunlight into the heart of the flower.
The Bombus Polaris symbolizes both strength and vulnerability—resilient in the harsh climate of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), yet increasingly fragile in the face of climate change. It is a fitting namesake for the sled, which carries with it a fragile gem of ancient ice, linking the natural and human worlds in this urgent story of transformation.
A note from Lead Artist Brian Goggin.
I worked on ‘Bombus Polaris’ with Ole Svendensen, a Greenlandic Inuit Dog Sled builder and dog musher, to build this traditional Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) dog sled in his workshop in March of 2025. We started by selecting the durable materials that would enable us to support up to a two metric tonne load of glacier ice (from an iceberg). He has been building dog sleds for fishermen and women in Ilulissat his whole life, as has his father and his father and his father before him.
We used straight grained, knot free pine to build the cross pieces that span the runners. We based the shape of these evenly spaced pieces on the shape of the older sleds where they used salvaged wood from barrels to connect the two parallel runners and help to structure the sled. These rounded shapes added arcing shapes to the sled.
In the past, Ole told me, sled makers would use driftwood to build their sledges. The driftwood came from Siberian pine forests via the Transpolar ice drift that moves sea ice from the coast of Siberia across the Arctic Ocean to Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) over a number of years. When wood was not available, Ole said, the fishermen would use frozen fish wrapped in sealskin for runners.
We made a pair of runners with wood he had stored in the shipping container he uses as a shed outside his shop. The runners are a vital part of the sled design requiring precise cuts and angles, and they also have signature upturned shapes at the front that act as a signature of the builder and the location the sled was made. In other words the shapes vary depending on where they are from.
After cutting out sanding and shaping all of the pieces we walked over to a paint supply shop and purchased paint to seal the wood. We coated the cross pieces, the runners and the handlebar pieces, the traditional color associated with Ilulissat a light blue. We left the cross piece on the handlebar, which is made of red ironwood, unpainted and instead oil finished.
So the sled can glide more easily over uneven snow or ice we laminated a nylon strip carved with a groove down the underside to fit snug around the edge of the runner, held tight with a steel bracket bent around the upturned curving (rockered) front part of the runner to keep the slick surface from peeling off. Traditionally sled makers would use bone layered with fat and ice, however now the nylon is what Ole prefers to use, because he says these new materials work so much better and he prefers them.
Using the crosspieces we spanned the runners tilted outward at a 7 degree angle to provide stability and reduce drag when turning. The side angle when seen from the back is subtle, but very important for maneuverability and control.
Ole’s friend, fisherman and Greenlandic Inuit hunter, Arna Johansen helped us lash together the cross pieces and attached the handle bar with the strong nylon rope. The sleds are not nailed, but instead lashed to allow flexibility and withstand the twisting and torquing forces of uneven terrain, while also being easy to repair in remote locations with minimal tools. In the past sealskin rope was used for this purpose, but as Ole said those ropes can break easily and also serve as a tasty snack for the sled dogs!
Once the sled was tied together Ole went out to his shed and gave me two caribou pelts to use to pad the sled, wrap tools, use it as a soft cover to sit on or cushion the ice when we transport it. We tied the pelts on and then took the sled out for a test on the fjord. It glided like a dream, very smooth and stable when turning and carrying a load. We left the sled staged and ready for us in a cabin near the fjord along with some of the saws we will use for the ice extraction. Page credits:
Photography by Emile Holba. Illustrations by Brian Goggin. Text by Brian Goggin, Charles Monroe-Kane and Emile Holba.
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