“Skavvi”: Crust of ice on snow, formed in the evening after the sun has thawed the top of the snow during the day.
"Skavvi" is part of Polaris project and explores the opening of Artic region to commercial development through the utilization of land and water. The Climate Change and the Ice Melting redefines the importance of the Arctic cities, maps new trading sea routes while opens the way for the world's largest remaining untapped gas reserves and some of the largest undeveloped oil reserves.
The melting Arctic has created new shipping lanes in previously unnavigable routes between Northwest Europe and countries such as China, Japan and South Korea. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) reduces transit time from Japan to north European countries by 37 percent, from South Korea by 31 percent, China 23 percent and Taiwan 17 percent. In April 2015, Moscow formed the Russian Arctic Commission to develop its economic interests in the area of the Arctic. The main objective of the commission is the harmonization of government activities and the establishment of regional authorities.
Russia’s fervent focus on Arctic development is apparent in the major improvement that is planning to undertake in more than ten ports, while is building new terminals and relief ports for ships that need repair. The northern coast of the country is undergoing a major upgrade with old terminals being reconstructed and new ports being established. Russia attempts to take the advantage of the new economic opportunities and become the dominant power of the region.
This is an on going project that documents the landscape around strategic locations-ports of the Northern Sea Route in this turning moment; if Russia is successful in making the NSR the new Suez, the Arctic region will be transformed forever by the 21st century’s silk route.
Currently, the first body of work is about Murmansk oblast. Murmansk is the biggest city of the Arctic Circle and benefits from an ice free port all year round; fact that makes the city an important fishing and shipping point for Russia. In Murmansk also is located Atomflot, the world's only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.
With the climate change advancing rapidly and the greedy desire of Russia to establish its interests in the Arctic in one or two decades the Arctic scenery will be completely different from what it is today. The light of the images, which is either in dawn or dusk, connotes this ambivalent present moment of the area. Either the beginning or the end and reflects the anticipation for the future. The city and the surrounding area covered in snow peacefully and silently waiting with tension the next era that will assess the future of the Arctic.
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