Greenland Lost Dreams

  • Dates
    2016 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Location Greenland, Greenland

Extreme environment puts people between life and death. Through the lens, you can see the beautiful polar scenes such as summer Aurora, cold glaciers, free whales and so on. In a few years, I traveled to Greenland in different seasons, and my mind was constantly changing in a number of explorations. From the shocking record of beauty to the observation of the ecological environment and human existence, I feel the cruelty of the world.

No matter what angle, I hope to record the rarely known stories in the corners of the earth, so as to jointly explore the world of sustainable development, and record "human beings environment, love and life".

I took an old sailing boat to explore the no man's land, went to the fjords exposed by the melting of glaciers, and found that the Arctic glaciers were melting rapidly. In depth understanding of the living conditions of the Inuit and animals and plants in the Arctic, and the impact and influence of the modernization process on the ancient Inuit culture. The polar region seems isolated, but its changes affect the world. Nevertheless, people here still have a brave and warm heart to adapt to the new world.

Human beings are strong and small, and nature is fragile and great. I think that only by protecting and respecting nature will we have the chance to continue to symbiosis.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Due to global warming and other reasons, legendary hunters who once bravely captured whales and polar bears in Greenland are difficult to find seats in modern society. Some of them are learning new modern technologies, but more people are at a loss. I stayed there for some time and ate and lived with the Inuit. By chance, I met an old hunter. He invited me into the house and sat around the TV to watch the live dog sled race.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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The extreme cold area in the Arctic is about -20 degrees a year. The lowest temperature during the polar night can reach even -70 degrees. So there are few pedestrians in the streets after sunset, and most shops are not open. The few nightlife in town is to go to the only bar in town to drink.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Mosquitoes in Greenland hover overhead like fighter planes. The rising temperatures of the Arctic make mosquitoes breed wildly. The number of reindeer breeding in northern Greenland is decreasing, and the violent impact of mosquitoes is probably one of the main reasons for the decrease in reindeer numbers. But if there are no mosquitoes in the Arctic, the number of migratory birds will drop by 50%, because the larvae of mosquitoes are the food of hundreds of birds, which is the natural circulation system.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Because it is summer, plants show great vitality. The natural environment of Greenland is extremely harsh. It is covered by ice and snow all year round. Due to the influence of the marine climate, the coastal area has an ice retreat period of about 350 thousand square kilometers every year, which is the distribution area of Greenland plants.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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The sailboat parked in the harbor, I overcame the dizziness brought by the huge waves at sea, lying on deck, staring at the night, the rising and rising of the moon, I saw the summer Aurora circling overhead, and the summer Aurora was the best reward for the aurora hunter.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Most of the small houses in Greenland are colored. The wizard says that every color is meaningful, such as what color corresponds to what function. But many houses also paint their houses in color. I want to make the house colorful in a vast expanse of snow. Maybe it is their longing for life in their hearts.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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For this day, I had to ride on snowmobile for more than 1 hours in the depths of the ice. My hunters always thought I was wearing too little and repeated sign language to confirm if I could bear it. He also said he would bring his seal leather gloves to me before he would start, and he said that his outline was like a mountain in the distance (meaning he was strong) so there was no need to worry that he would be cold.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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通用 太阳快落山的时候我一个人走到已经结冰的海面,那里已经被大雪覆盖。耳边是呼呼的风声,就在这时我看到一 块巨型蓝冰挡在我的面前,周围除了风声就是犬吠,没有其他噪杂的声音。这块冰就像一个倾听者,听着风声带给它的关于古 老猎人的故事。 When the sun was falling, I walked alone to the frozen sea, which was covered by heavy snow. I heard a huge piece of blue ice standing in front of me. Except for the wind, it was barking and there was no other noisy voice. This ice is like a listener, listening to the stories of ancient hunters brought by wind.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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After drifting in Eastern Greenland for more than ten days, the sailboat finally returned inland, and there was also a network signal. At night, I want to fall asleep. The aurora is rising again. This is the aurora of summer, and the sun is still shining on the horizon.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Sled dogs are friends and tools for Inuit people. Even in modern times, sled dogs have to go to many places. Sled dogs will not take the initiative to attack or please people. They can deeply feel the strong vitality of animals and humans in the polar region. They are simple, brave and strong in respecting nature.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Uummannaq means "heart-shaped" in Greenland language, mainly from a 1170 metre heart shaped mountain, surrounded by 1200 Aboriginal people, mainly hunters and fishermen, on the rock of this mountain peak, the last port in northern Greenland. People who have visited Uummannaq will leave part of their minds here, and the land will keep calling you back when they leave.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Many primitive ways of life are preserved here. Small house roofs hang polar bear skins. Inuit hunters use arctic bear skins to make trousers to withstand hunger and cold. However, the new supersedes the old. The global warming is not able to adapt to the reduction of the ice age. Biologists say the entire ecosystem of the Arctic is collapsing. Without sea ice, polar bears, seals and walrus will lose their habitat. Greenland hunters will have no prey to catch.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Many people in Greenland have a habit of drinking. Winter is long and summer is sleepless. Most of the time, people live in a long and cold winter, easy to suffer from depression. In summer, too bright direct sunlight can cause many people to have seasonal affective disorder. Behind modern life and material development, there is a bigger social problem: the high Dutch act rate comes from the impact of modern civilization and traditional culture. The Inuit people who have grown here for thousands of years will face the biggest turning point. Many things on the island are changing and the speed is so fast that the inhabitants of the world's sparsely populated countries seem to have no place to locate, and no outlet can be found.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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Once entering the calm waters, there is a great chance to see whale. So they accompany me to swim across the snow mountain, swim across the blue ice, swim across the sunset.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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It is reported that in the near future, only 10% of the ice will be left in the Arctic region. Polar bears have been reduced to eating seabirds and even grass because they can't catch seals without ice. Because the ice is getting thinner and thinner, the hunter of Greenland is also dangerous. It is dangerous for a dog to pull a sled on it. Walrus's skin is thick enough to keep warm, but as the temperature rises, they feel hot and their skin turns red. As the temperature rises, some animal in the South will migrate to the Arctic region, and affect the ecology of the Arctic. Floating ice will also float far away.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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I boarded a centennial sailing ship and started sailing in the southeast of Greenland. Now the climate is much higher than it was nineteen thousand years ago, and it was covered before. The formation of watercourses is also the result of glaciers. Glaciers retreat and the fjords are exposed. Our ship sailed into a new channel that no one had ever been to.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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We landed on a small beach on the island. Before we came here, there was an Inuit family enjoying hot springs in the glacier. They spend their holidays in a small boat and a puppy from another town in Greenland.

© Jolie Luo - Image from the Greenland Lost Dreams photography project
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The melting of icebergs is not far away. The ice sheet in Greenland has been melting by trillions of tons in recent years, and the ice cover area is still shrinking. Glaciers break, slip into the water and form large icebergs, and finally melt and drift on the sea. Floating ice supplies a lot of fresh water to the sea, causing sea level rise. Global warming will first occur in the Arctic, and the Arctic is a sign of the earth’s future. Don’t think of glacier melting as just a change in a distant corner of the world. It will have an impact on our whole earth.

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