Photography, plants and care in a changing Arctic

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical analogy between photography and plants and engages with contemporary ideas on photography and care in a posthuman and more than-human-world. The analysis is based on a selection of vernacular archival images from the Svalbard region, recorded by temporary settlers in the Norwegian, Swedish, and Soviet mining towns between the 1920s and 1980s, which are now kept in the Arctic archives. In the High Arctic both plants and humans live under sparse conditions, and even more so under the pressure of the modern extraction of natural and human resources. However, photographs depicting humans and plants in Arctic settlements document relations of care for the self and the environment, protecting native vegetation and the cultivation of imported plants. They also witness the photographer’s role as caretaker, and, later on, the institutional and archival care. The photographic motifs direct our attention towards unnoticed phenomena, thus making them significant both for the contemporary spectator and for posterity. Care is also deeply intertwined with power relations, social structures, and ecological systems, and made it obvious that the photographs in the Arctic archives raise ethical considerations particularly concerning issues of human exploitation and domination, disturbing colonialism, and the collapse of ecosystems. While the photographs lay bare possibilities for new forms of engagement with the photographic material and re-entanglements, they also open towards resistance, collaboration and hope for renewal. The suggested parallels of the life of plants and photography are part of this paper’s contribution to the speculation of a future Arctic with changed life forms, migrating plants and people.