Mind the gap - The time in between

Photographs printed on canvas, embroidery.

On the way to North Pole, I discovered at the edge of the world, at the border of a myth that was unknown a century ago, in a nowadays closed and guarded territory, a world only accessible to the privileged ones holding a special travel permit, a place jailed between two time periods. Human life on the islands, once built out of a vivid Utopian dream vanished. Today is supposed to be a gap between times, a break before a new future. But we know now that a tomorrow is not likely to occur. The gap will be closely filled by climate change and global warming taking over by leaking by a warm tongue the shores of the islands, melting its permafrost in the sea.

In 2017, I was invited to take part in the Pax Arctica expedition in the Russian Arctic, led by Luc Hardy to explore the Delong Archipelago in the Eastern Siberian sea. Navigating on the Somov icebreaker, I relived the 1879–1881 expedition, the attempt by George W. De Long to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. Before the shrinking of the boat after 2 years, prisoners of the ice pack, the expedition discovered new islands—the De Long Islands—and collected valuable meteorological and oceanographic data. Today, those islands and its wildlife are threatened to disappear by climate change in the Arctic.

Abandoned weather station, Vilkitsky island

Toundra, New Siberian Islands

Tiski Тикси

Bennett island

Bennett Island

Toundra

crashed plane

hut abandonned ny meterologists in the 80's, Bennett Island

Wheather station Vlkitski island

Hut, Bennett Island

Jeannette Island

Bennett Island

Tiksi Cemetery

Delong Island

Tiksi

Jeannette Island

Bennett Island

New Siberian Islands, Toundra

Snow

Bennett Island, abandoned weather station

Jeanette Island, detail

weather station

Bennett Island, Abandoned weather station

Abandoned weather station, Vilkitsky islandembroidery on canvas

Toundra, New Siberian IslandsEmbroidery on Canvas

Tiski Тиксиon the shore of the Laptev Sea, close to the delta of the Lena River, built in the 30’s by Gulag worker to exploit the North of Yakutia. Tiksi in a port serving the access to te Laptev sea but is cut from mainland because of no road system connecting to the rest of Yakutia.

Bennett islandDelong archipelago in the Russian Arctic ocean

Bennett IslandEmbroidery on canvas, artwork executed after the expedition in the Delong Archipelago

ToundraEmbroidery on canvas

crashed plane Close to a meteo station in the Russian Arctic, Delong Archipelago, Art work, embroidery on canvas

hut abandonned ny meterologists in the 80's, Bennett IslandEmbroidery on canvas

Wheather station Vlkitski islandEmbroidery on canvas

Hut, Bennett IslandEmbroidery on canvas

Jeannette IslandEmbroidery on canvas

Bennett IslandEmbroidery on Canvas

Tiksi CemeteryEmbroidery on canvas

Delong Islandembroidery on photograph. Embroidery on canvas. North Pole route, discovery exploration, art work, residency on an icebreaker

TiksiEmbroidery on canvas

Jeannette IslandEmbroidery on canvas

Bennett Islandembroidery on canvas

New Siberian Islands, ToundraEmbroidery on canvas

Snowembroidery on canvas

Bennett Island, abandoned weather stationembroidery on canvas

Jeanette Island, detailembroidery on canvas

weather station embroidery on canvas

Bennett Island, Abandoned weather stationembroidery on canvas

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