(2018)

The Fifth Thule Expedition (1921–1924) was one of the most important Danish polar expeditions, with the purpose of searching for the origins of the Inuit. The expedition accommodated 15 people, of whom five Danes and ten native Greenlanders. On the back of the archival photographs from the expedition, the Greenlanders are never mentioned by name, but only with descriptions, such as “beautiful", “servant", and "admiring a bucket." In recent years, I have worked on Denmark and Greenland relations, which are characterized by colonial history that is still evident today. This project involves working with archival and collected materials produced in Denmark about the topic.

From Greenland to the Pacific

Background: Greenland has been part of Denmark for over 300 years, first as a colony and then as a province since 1953. Greenland and the Faroe Islands joined the Danish kingdom through a constitutional reform. This was done with the blessing of the United Nations, which was working intensively on decolonization at that time. After 1953, the Danish state attempted to shape Greenlandic society according to its own vision. The impacts this had on Greenlandic society are not widely recognized in Danish society. I work with Danish archives and collections about Greenland that have been collected by Danes. As someone who has never been to Greenland, I approach the topic with my own prejudices, having grown up with ideas and stories about Greenland that I received from school, the media, and my family. As part of the process, I work with individual series that I combine in different ways.