Rise Of The Sunken by Su Inuuteq Storch at Fotografisk Center

The exhibition, which received great attention in the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, allows the audience to experience a nuanced narrative of Storch’s homeland, Kalaallit Nunaat through his personal approach to the photographic medium.

Overview

Storch challenges the long-standing tendency for outsiders – rather than the people of Kalaallit Nunaat themselves – to shape the visual history of Kalaallit Nunaat. In Rise of the Sunken Sun, Storch presents a multifaceted view of Kalaallit Nunaat through six thematic photographic series. Curated by Louise Wolthers, the exhibition includes Storch's intimate and poetic portrayals of daily life in his hometown of Sisimiut, images from his family's photo archives, as well as a digitized compilation of historical photographs by John Møller, the first professional Kalaaleq photographer. The newest works consist of photographs from Qaanaaq, the northernmost town, as well as the almost spherical, transparent images in the series Necromancer.

Rise of the Sunken Sun weaves personal narratives together with a broader exploration of identity, history, and daily life. Through both his own works and archival photographs, Storch creates a nuanced portrayal of life in Kalaallit Nunaat, while also revealing the subtle traces of the country's colonial history. Themes of decolonization and the decolonial potential of the camera emerge as underlying threads. 

The photographic series in the exhibition are accompanied by musical compositions and soundscapes as well as a sculptural element in the form of a semicircle which symbolises the Arctic sunrise over the white icy landscape, referencing Kalaallit Nunaat’s flag (Erfalasorput), traditional Inuit beliefs and the exhibition title Rise of the Sunken Sun.