Read the motivation of one of the painters to work in Spitsbergen.
Transcription from interview with Ellis [10-10-2016], unedited:
“My work was always about the geology of Scotland, because I grew up in the highlands. The geology is really extreme there. I wanted to push it further so I went to Iceland last year, studying the geology there, looking at how the climate change effects that landscape. Then I realized I needed to go as far North as possible. Climate change is the most important in the High Arctic, it made sense to come here to document as much as I could.
When I was really young my dad would always take me camping up North in the Highlands. I’ve always have had these affiliations which places that are untouched and wild. There is more there and unexpected. It’s less affected by mankind, which makes it easier to see the landscape as it is and study the geology.
The landscape is really fragile. I think the only way that people can conserve the land and actually know that global warming is happening is noticing how beautiful the landscape is. With my work I don’t want to be so negative but show the beauty of the landscape and the real lines and details. And show the love of the people, because it’s the people that are totally out of touch with nature that don’t believe that global warming is happening. I think that by showing the supreme force of the land it helps people connect with that. So they will be more interested to conserve the land.”