Up Here

The North is a complex place that is beautiful, moody, and anything but untouched. The Arctic, part of the international North that is pivotal to the world because of climate change, is no longer a frontier of the past. The same interest in the North that preoccupied artists and explorers of the Romantic era has returned greater than ever, but rather than merely depicting its grandeur, today’s artists, scientists, and explorers question the future of the landscape.

Up Here connects art, science, and environment at a time when unprecedented climate change requires unprecedented innovation. The contributors explore the ideas of “wilderness” and “remoteness,” the lessons to be learned from cold places and indigenous knowledge, and how the Arctic is a signal for global change.

Julie Decker is director and CEO at the Anchorage Museum. She is the author of numerous publications, including Gyre: The Plastic Ocean and Found and Assembled in Alaska. Kirsten J. Anderson is deputy director and chief curator at the Anchorage Museum. Contributors: Brian Adams, Simon Armitage, Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz, Olaf Otto Becker, Elizabeth Bradfield, Berit Ellingsen, Tiina Itkonen, Acacia Johnson, Karl Ove Knausgård, Judith Lindbergh, Barry Lopez, Robert Macfarlane, Ted Mayac Sr., Craig Medred, Clark James Mishler, Carol Richards, Freya Rohn, Eva Saulitis, Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir, Jeroen Toirkens, and Mark Wilson.

Introduction / Julie Decker
1. Arktikós / Barry Lopez
2. On Seeing the Pack Ice for the First Time: An Elegy / Eva Saulitis
3. Going Back to the Arctic / Berit Ellingsen
4. Miss Arctic Circle (Runner-up) / Carol Richards
5. Unmiksok / Ted Mayac Sr.
6. nanoq and the Indeterminate North / Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson
7. Last Snowman / Simon Armitage
8. Inland Empire / Craig Medred
9. The Allure of Harsh Places / Judith Lindbergh
10. The Magical Realism of Norwegian Nights / Karl Ove Knausgård
11. Mirrorland / Freya Rohn
12. Two if by Sea / Elizabeth Bradfield
13. Summit / Robert Macfarlane
14. This Is the North I Know / Julie Decker