SHADOW FLEET

In 2022, Russia returned war to Europe’s doorstep. Despite continuing EU support for Ukraine, Russia's Shadow Fleet still sails Russian oil through European territorial waters for export, generating revenue that helps sustain the conflict.

SHADOW FLEET is a photographic project about the Russian shadow fleet - the oil tankers that sail through European waters carrying sanctioned oil from Russia.

The Russian shadow fleet is both visible and invisible. We can see the ships from the shore, yet the fleet’s purpose, ownership, and routes are often concealed. Denmark’s position as the gateway to the Baltic Sea makes this passageway one of the world’s most monitored maritime corridors, and a crucial artery for Russian oil exports. The narrow waterways bring global trade and geopolitics into close view from the Danish coast. Although these waters are Danish territory, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea grants ships the right of innocent passage. From the front row, we thus become spectators to the maritime activities of a war-faring Russia.

Coast and sea are central elements of Danish identity. We orient ourselves toward the world through the sea, seeking perspective, outlook, and insight. We know the maritime imagery intimately, yet a dissonance emerges through today’s geopolitical reality.

During 2025, a photographic logbook took shape. The passing oil tankers become a part of a larger story about (hybrid) warfare, sanctions, and international trade, and appear both as concrete objects and as symbolic figures within a contemporary geopolitical narrative.

SHADOW FLEET is both a testimony and a reflection: an attempt to capture a historical moment through photography while questioning how we see and often choose to overlook global currents.