Barren and out of this world, the extreme Arctic might actually be the right match with certain human experiences. Read about reflections of loneliness by one the writers:
Transcription from interview with Jess [13-10-2016], unedited:
“My fascination of the arctic is very old and starts with reading adventure stories. I’ve always been fascinated by the sea and by animals of the sea. I’ve read a story to our crew which had walruses in it, but I think the reason that walruses were in it, is in part because they have these really wild bodies. And my work is largely in thinking about what it is like to be in a body and have a body. And a lot of that is an uncomfortable experience in my work.
Part of my experience of being here has been very joyful, but partly very sad. And it is not that direct, as in “oh the glacier is melting so I am sad because I think we’ve ruined our world”. It’s more this extreme body morphinism. It is in my chest. Like I cannot contain it. And then I thought like, maybe I always have felt really outside, like, really different. And I think we can all feel very different and really alone in the world in our own ways. And maybe my drive to be in these extreme places of emptiness, perceived emptiness, is in some way trying to match the environment with the feeling. So you feel extreme isolation, you try to match that, or you get drawn to that place to. I feel like the these two sides get drawn together, and that is a very intense feeling. Do you know what I mean?”