Dana Lixenberg: The Last Days of Shishmaref

Using her 4×5-inch field camera makes the act of photographing more formal than hand-held photography, resulting in an intimate collaboration between the photographer and her subjects and in carefully composed still-lives. By combining portraiture, details of interiors, village tableaux, sea- and landscapes, Lixenberg creates a nuanced and complex portrait of this close-knit community, a community balancing between a past rooted in tradition and an uncertain future.

The book, loosely grouped around the different families living for generations on the island, contains over 80 images by Dana Lixenberg. Together with texts on subjects like relocation, subsistence, identity, modern life and infrastructure the photography draws a stark image of the island and her inhabitants. The myth, depicted by film director Jan Louter, has been passed down from generation to generation, telling of the emergence (‘it all started with a strip of sand’) and disappearance (‘swallowed up by the sea’) of the island of Sarichef.