Adam Sébire

sikujumaataarooq : waiting for sea ice

sikujumaataarooq : waiting for sea ice

remote residency 1-31 March 2022

Uummannaq, Greenland and Arctic Norway

Adam Sébire

Sikujuippoq is a northwest Greenlandic word for the disappearance of the sea ice. Cryosphere scientists predict the North Pole may be free of sea ice some summers before 2050. But as the Arctic warms four times as fast as the rest of the planet, how are its winters changing? From the 1st of March, Adam Sébire will be offering photo-video vignettes collected in Uummannaq, a remote Inuit settlement at 70.4ºN, as he waited for the sea ice to form.

—

Australian artist Adam Sébire was on his way from Svalbard to Greenland for PhD research into visual representation of climate change when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, marooning him in a windswept North Sea lighthouse. He thus rode out the first three months of the pandemic in the ultimate location for social distancing, which gave rise to his Art Arcadia Lockdown Residency in May 2020.

Delayed a further 16 months in northern Norway due to Australia’s border closures, Adam finally arrived in Uummannaq in December 2021 to document formation of the winter sea ice. His second appearance for Art Arcadia is therefore via “Remote Residency” with extra emphasis on “remote”: begun in northwest Greenland, completed in the Norwegian Arctic, and brought to you on Art Arcadia’s Instagram channel and website during the month of March 2022.

This residency is in partnership with St Augustine’s Heritage Site and it is funded by Derry City & Strabane District Council.

blog

The ice with the frozen methane bubbles

Despite staying almost 8 weeks on Uummannaq from December to...

Adam SébireMarch 30, 2022

A (Greenlandic) dog’s life

A chorus of ghostly howling envelops Uummannaq island daily as...

Adam SébireMarch 25, 2022

A Greenlandic Sea Ice Vocabulary

Spending 2 winters in Norway I’d taken a keen interest...

Adam SébireMarch 22, 2022

Whiteout in Greenland & other colourful tales

Erik the Red, a Viking, named this frozen island “Greenland”...

Adam SébireMarch 15, 2022

Going with the floes

It’s hard to overstate the importance of sea ice...

Adam SébireMarch 10, 2022

Working through the (Polar) Night

For three months the Sun hibernates below the horizon in...

Adam SébireMarch 4, 2022

Instagram takeover

Mar 31

#SeaIce retreats for the season in #GratangenFjord, #Norway.

I returned from Uummannaq to my adopted home in #Arctic Norway in the second half of February without the sea ice having formed. I was a bit despondent, but a few weeks later I woke to a strange sound. Our (usually ice-free) fjord had been well above usual March temperatures; in the same week the North Pole was 30ºC above average and Antarctica 40ºC above.
Arctic snow in Norway rapidly melted, pouring fresh water into the already cold waters of the fjord. It promptly froze, creating impromptu sea ice.
The next day wind pushed it out to sea, crushing it against the peninsula that juts out below my house. An astonishing phenomenon, and a fitting bookmark to my months documenting the sea ice.
--
My grateful thanks to Art Arcadia for supporting my #RemoteResidency from Greenland and thanks to you for reading! You can catch up on the blog at https://artarcadia.org/adam-sebire-2/
Till next time,
Adam.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire

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Mar 30

This final blog for @art.arcadia.ltd's (Extremely) #RemoteArtistResidency brings together shots from a #WorkInProgress (mostly straight out of the camera without processing yet). I’m not even sure what this work IS yet, but something about a relationship with the ice; a piece about precariousness, fragility, balance, loss and care...

Continue reading at https://artarcadia.org/methane_lake/

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Uummannaq #Ice #IceBubbles #MethaneBubbles #Greenland

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Mar 29

I had to move my final Wednesday Icebergs to Tuesday since they were beginning to defrost...

This mobile mountain (videos 1 & 2) passed #UummannaqIsland in the space of about 3 hours. Over 87% of an #iceberg's volume is underwater, so this one could be almost a kilometre tall.

The iceberg didn’t run aground so the #SeaIce was swept out to #BaffinBay too (video 3).

Within a few days the fjord was beginning to freeze again, allowing the seal hunters to again stake out their breathing holes (video 4).

Audio for videos 3&4 is recorded using a hydrophone (underwater microphone) 5 metres under the sea ice.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Icebergs #Winter #Uummannaq #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 28

While waiting for the #SeaIce on #UummannaqIsland I often found myself walking across the #FrozenLake.
There’s not been much snow cover this winter so as well as being a shortcut from East to West it is a stunning gallery of #methane #IceBubbles trapped under the freshwater #ice.
On the downside, it is polished by blowing snow and is extremely slippery...

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Frozen #Winter #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 27

#Icebreakers : 3 cracking shots (plus a cutaway)

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Icebreaker #SeaIce #Icebreaking #Icebreaker #Uummannaq #UummannaqFjord #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

Music: “Happiness” (video 2) and “Bela Vista” (video 3) by Martin Fondse
www.martinfondse.com
bastamusicstore.com/collections/martin-fondse
open.spotify.com/artist/7ub2lBGFD8isqZAxgxUwQt

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Mar 26

Gazing out at the #SeaIce and #Icebergs one day I was surprised to notice a jet of water from between the floes. A #whale was in #UummannaqFjord, feasting.

Some whales do overwinter in Greenland, but this was a humpback or, in Kaalisuut, #Qipoqqaat; it should really have been in warmer waters off the Dominican Republic at the beginning of January.

I sent the photos off to the Greenland Climate Research Centre for identification; they have a Catalogue of #HumpbackWhale tails to identify which whale is where: http://pukkelhval.gcrc.gl

Whale oil was the beginning of #Arctic energy extraction on industrial scale; it was soon followed by coal.
Now the effects of burning fossil fuels changes the same Arctic ecosystems.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Humpback #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Uummannaq #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 25

"The fate of Greenland's #SledgeDogs is inextricably linked to that of the #SeaIce on which they work…"

A few shots from my day with Martin (@sikutours) training his #SledgeDog team on the frozen lake last month.
Continue reading my blog post for the Art Arcadia Remote Residency from #Uummannaq at https://artarcadia.org/adam-sebire-2/ (link also in bio)

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #SledDogs #DogSledge #DogSled #UummannaqIsland #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

Music: “You don’t know what you've got 'till it’s gone” (video 1) and "Simpsons" (video 3) by Martin Fondse @martinfondseoficial
www.martinfondse.com
bastamusicstore.com/collections/martin-fondse
open.spotify.com/artist/7ub2lBGFD8isqZAxgxUwQt

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Mar 24

There are several harbours on #UummannaqIsland. Each is a stage for its own cast of characters; a #TableauVivant, though only the boats are frozen.

The eastern #harbour (1) is low key with independent (mostly subsistence) hunters whose boats get caught in ice more easily; the southeastern one (3) is more commercial where larger ships break the ice longer for longer in the winter and where it’s possible to buy fresh seal or fish (4).
If you know where the #SeaIce is strongest it’s possible walk between them (2).

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Uummannaq #Inuit #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 23

Oops, almost missed the Wednesday #iceberg post!
Click to view true 9:16 aspect ratio else you won’t see the icebergs (aargh, instagram cropping🙄)

This one involved a degree of suffering for one's art, standing still on #seaice for about half an hour at around -15ºC.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Icebergs #UummannaqFjord #Uummannaq #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #Arsarnerit #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 23

There are well over 100 Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic) terms just for #SeaIce in its various states. Here in this video, “sikuerpoq": sea ice breaks up and goes away.

Continue reading my the blog post for the Art Arcadia Remote Residency from #Uummannaq at https://artarcadia.org/a-greenlandic-sea-ice-vocabulary/ (link also in bio)

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #UummannaqFjord #Greenland

Music: “Luz” by Martin Fondse @martinfondseoficial
www.martinfondse.com
bastamusicstore.com/collections/martin-fondse
open.spotify.com/artist/7ub2lBGFD8isqZAxgxUwQt

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Mar 20

When the sun returns to #UummannaqFjord annually on 4 February — even for just a few minutes a day — the landscape is utterly transformed.
While the locals have a celebration, I have to admit it's a wrench for me; I much prefer the infinite shades of blue from an implied sun.
But it's not just aesthetic; it has big implications for phytoplankton and algae beneath the #SeaIce. As the climate warms, and as sea ice forms ever later, food chains reliant on phytoplankton will likely be the winners; the news is not as rosy if you eat algae on the other hand.
https://www.mynewsdesk.com/no/akvaplan-niva/news/the-melting-arctic-how-algal-blooms-change-in-rapidly-warming-seas-401206

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Iceberg #Sun #SeaIce

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Mar 18

2/2. In which our seal hunters return safely, if empty-handed, to harbour through the new formed #SeaIce.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #SeaIce #Icebreaker #BreakingTheIce #Uummannaq #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 17

1/2. These #Inuit #hunters’ #odyssey to get home through #SeaIce that froze while they were out was a bit of an #epic. Instagram is not designed to cope with epics, so I’m going to split the post in two; just like Homer did.
As with the Iliad it’s best digested vertically so tap once for the full 9:16 tall screen experience.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #SeaIce #Icebreaker #BreakingTheIce #Uummannaq #UummannaqFjord #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 16

I fell a bit #InLove with this #iceberg. Hundreds or thousands of years at the bottom of a #glacier had compressed most of the air bubbles from its #ice, allowing the #crystals to enlarge and increasing its density, giving it stunning #colours even under the #PolarNight.
If it remained #frozen in when the #PackIce stabilised I decided I would walk out to gently rub the snow from its surfaces.

Music: “Gloria” by Martin Fondse @martinfondseoficial
www.martinfondse.com
bastamusicstore.com/collections/martin-fondse
open.spotify.com/artist/7ub2lBGFD8isqZAxgxUwQt

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #SeaIce #Uummannaq #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat

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Mar 15

Erik the Red named this frozen island "Greenland” to attract settlers, thereby also becoming a pioneer of panglossian real estate hype that culminated in the Trump bid for Greenland a thousand years later.

My Blog Nº3, Whiteout in Greenland & other colourful tales is on the #ArtArcadia website at artarcadia.org/colours_of_greenland

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Uummannaq #Greenland #colours #tinyhouse

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Mar 14

A fishing boat and #seaice #floe #dance a gentle #waltz as dawn (almost) breaks over #Uummannaq harbour.

Music: “No, Not Huppert” by Martin Fondse @martinfondseoficial
www.martinfondse.com
bastamusicstore.com/collections/martin-fondse
open.spotify.com/artist/7ub2lBGFD8isqZAxgxUwQt

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #UummannaqFjord #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #timelapse

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Mar 13

What remains of the #SeaIce after waves looks like a work by #Gaudí.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #UummannaqFjord #Greenland

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Mar 12

On #NewYearsEve, as the #midnight #fireworks lit up the #icebergs, a strong south-easterly #wind swept through #UummannaqFjord, decimating the #SeaIce I had optimistically thought was here to stay.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Arctic #Uummannaq #UummannaqIsland #Greenland

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Mar 11

Best to get comfortable whilst #Waiting for #SeaIce.
It's not known for its punctuality these days.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #LongWait #Chair #Blue #PleaseWait #Arctic #Uummannaq #UummannaqFjord

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Mar 10

As the sea transmutes from liquid to solid it transforms the existence of lifeforms and communities surrounding it; particularly for those which have adapted to living either atop or below it…
Blog #2, Going with the Floes is on the #ArtArcadia website at artarcadia.org/floes

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Uummannaq #seaice

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Mar 9

$On Wednesdays it’s #icebergs, rather than the sea ice that is my main subject of exploration. Today I’d like to share my collaboration from Greenland that was part of the National Theatre of Scotland's "Dear Planet" program during the COP26 #ClimateChange conference last November (but so far not seen elsewhere). It’s made with Edinburgh-based poet Skye Loneragan (qpoetics.com): a #filmpoem #juxtaposition of footage of fractured #icebergs in #Greenland with a poem based on an oncologist's words to a patient: "you may lose your fingerprint". (If you can't view it in widescreen on IGTV, try here: https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/dear-planet ) #artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #Greenland$

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Mar 8

“That’s how I get paid!”
#PlasticRecycling on the #SeaIce.

Single use plastics, made from fossil fuel, are expected to account for 5-10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (unless we simply refuse to buy it in the first place of course!)
Here, Poul, an Inuit hunter, does his bit…
#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #recycling #plastic #plasticbottle #Inuit #Arctic #Greenland

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Mar 7

The temptation was to crop this photo to just a lone white house with icebergs (image 1), perhaps connoting “Arctic purity” or “human adaptation” to even the harshest environments.
But that would only tell half the story: it would crop out the #oiltanks (image 2) which remain central to that “adaptation” at the beginning of the C21st; that get me to #Uummannaq; keep me fed and warm here; and — much less perceptibly — now affect the formation of #SeaIce in the surrounding #fjord.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #climatechange #globalwarming #UummannaqIsland

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Mar 6

It must be a tough life being an aquatic mammal in the #Arctic; will your #BreathingHole in the #SeaIce still be unfrozen when you need it; and if so, will there be a human with a spear or rifle waiting for you beside it?!

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #uummannaqfjord

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Mar 5

This is Martin testing what is sometimes called the #SeaIce “hinge” (or #TideCrack) to make sure I wouldn’t fall through as I crossed to the #icefoot with all my equipment.
Later I realised the importance of this zone, the #aqqartarfik (/aqqar-tar-fik : go-down-habitual-place/ … certainly Martin seemed to be going down!)
Every day it would be broken by the tide (in pic 3 you see it surrounding the isle of dogs, who were presumably wily enough to get across and cause mischief!)
Even (or perhaps especially) when covered with snow it was a dangerous but unavoidable spot that you needed to cross to access the #FastIce.

Did you remember to read Friday's blog?! www.artarcadia.org 🙂

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire @sikutours #Uummannaq #Greenland

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Mar 4

For three months the Sun hibernates below the horizon in #Uummannaq, 70.4ºN. Arriving late December to visually document #SeaIce forming then would come with certain logistical challenges...

Continue reading in the first blog post for Adam Sébire’s Remote #ArtistResidency from #Greenland at https://artarcadia.org/filming-in-the-polar-night/ (link also in bio)
#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire

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Mar 3

I arrived in #Uummannaq shortly after Christmas. Every time I pass this #SalutingSanta subsequently he seems to be looking increasingly irked at the lack of stable sea ice (and in his case, melting snow) … or am I just projecting?!

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire
#SantaClaus #Santa #iceberg #Greenland

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Mar 2

Although this Remote Artist Residency is about #SeaIce surrounding an #Arctic community, I've got to warn you, there will be a lot of #icebergs ahead as well. I could offer arguments in support of this (e.g. run-aground icebergs are important for holding sea ice in place during strong winds, as in the first photo). But also: I just really really like them.

So if you have some deep underlying issues with icebergs (or lost someone to the Titanic disaster) perhaps best to tune out on Wednesdays when I will offer up a veritable Frozen Rogue’s Gallery.

Most of this week’s are actually from #Ilulissat, where my journey was delayed a day by mechanical problems. Or at least, they were at the time; they can move at a cracking pace with wind or currents behind them. Indeed it's thought that the #berg which sunk the Titanic originated here from Jakobshavn, Greenland’s fastest flowing glacier.

And the more glaciers melt due to #climatechange, the more icebergs calve — promising interesting times ahead for shipping plying the newly opened Arctic sea routes.

#artarcadia #adamsebire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire #iceberg #Greenland

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Mar 1

I have to admit I was not entirely dreading the idea of the plane making an #EmergencyLanding over Greenland’s Ice Cap; clearly it would be like an episode out of “Tintin in Tibet”.

This is Adam Sébire @adam_sebire beginning an Art Arcadia “Remote Residency” from the Arctic as it faces its own #ClimateChange emergency. I’ll be mounting a takeover of the instagram account and blog for the month of March.

Some is written in Uummannaq, NW Greenland in January & February whilst waiting for the sea ice to form; the rest in Arctic Norway as I ingest — and digest — the images and insights from my weeks spent in this extraordinary Inuit community, at time of incredible changes in the #Arctic #SeaIce.

#artarcadia #adamsébire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire

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Feb 28

In March 2020 Australian artist Adam Sébire was on his way from Svalbard to Greenland for PhD research into visual representation of climate change when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, marooning him in a windswept North Sea lighthouse.
Undeterred by the circumstances, Adam took part in an Art Arcadia Lockdown Residency, providing a humorous and dreamy account of his life in isolation.
Delayed a further 16 months in northern Norway due to Australia’s border closures, Adam finally arrived in Uummannaq in December 2021.
We are delighted to catch up with Adam for the first of our Remote Residencies series: follow his Instagram takeover and his blog where he will be offering photo-video vignettes collected in this remote Inuit settlement, as he waited for the sea ice to form

#artarcadia #adamsébire #remoteresidency #dcsdc #whatsonds #artistresidency #artaas21 @paola.bee @adam_sebire

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