EMPIRE LINES17 Aug 2023

Photographs of the Polar Silk Road, Gregor Sailer (2017-2021) (EMPIRE LINES x Natural History Museum)

Photographer Gregor Sailer exposes the neo-imperial scramble for resources in the Arctic Circle and the Polar Silk Road, with stills frozen in white cubes at the Natural History Museum in London.

Climate change is melting ice across the Arctic Sea, opening a channel known as ‘The Polar Silk Road’- and for traders, access to a wealth of natural resources. The term was defined by contemporary China, a nod to the long history of the the Eurasian Silk Road, characterised by the exchange of tea, spices, and disease. But these stark monochrome settings are contemporary sites of geopolitical conflict over the ownership and exploitation of oil, gas, and borders, all subjects of a new Cold War; the damage endured by local Indigenous people, animals, and plants has global impacts.

From isolated research centres to Icelandic geothermal power plants, Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer captures man-made architectures across the region, but always avoids photographing people themselves. He talks about documenting the ‘surreal’, the sustainability of travel photography, and how taking one-shot analogue photographs makes him more present in his environments.

The Polar Silk Road: Photographs by Gregor Sailer runs at the Jerwood Gallery at the Natural History Museum in London, part of the programme Our Broken Planet, throughout 2023.

Part of EMPIRE LINES Photography Season, exposing different perspectives on the past. Listen to the other episodes on Carrie Mae Weems, Contemporary African Photography at Tate Modern, and Nil Yalter’s Exile is a Hard Job.

WITH: Gregor Sailer, artist and photographer.

ART: ‘Photographs of the Polar Silk Road, Gregor Sailer (2017-2021)'.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

Follow EMPIRE LINES on Twitter: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936 And Instagram: instagram.com/empirelinespodcast

Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines

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