The "Avannaa" Arctic Greenlandic Expedition in Moscow, Russia

A whale being dragged onto the shore in Greenland. One of “The Stolen Moments” from the new photo exhibit in Moscow, Russia. Photo by Galya Morrell.

The photos follow a sailing trip of over 4,000 kilometers in an open boat. Photo by Galya Morrell.

Hooray! The photo exhibition “The Stolen Moments,” that features a recent brave motor boat journey to the Ultimate North of Greenland – Avannaa Expedition, takes place in Moscow, Russia.

Yes, that’s the very Arctic expedition we dedicated the last posts!

The Moscow Times gives a great insight into the photo exhibition open at the Qiwi Group building on Petrovsky Pereulok.

Here is what the newspaper says:

“The Stolen Moments,” a photo exhibition documenting three men and one woman’s unusual journey beyond the world’s northernmost settlement, is now open at the Qiwi Group building on Petrovsky Pereulok. Expedition Avannaa (the word for “north” in the Greenlandic language) was the first joint venture of Russian and Greenlandic explorers in the Arctic, meant to offer a glimpse into the world of Greenland’s Polar Eskimos as they themselves see it.

“We did not travel to conquer, nor to proclaim superiority”, said Galya Morrell, a Russian-born crew member and cultural activist whose photos are on show and who lives in Greenland. “Unlike many fact-finding missions that only stay in Greenland for a few days, we spent over two months traveling the Greenlandic way.”

This meant a journey of over 4,000 kilometers in an open boat, with no specialist equipment and few means of communication with the outside world. The crew, made up of Morrell and three Greenlandic Eskimo hunters, sailed from Uummannaq Island (often called “the heart of the Arctic”) to the country’s “Ultimate North,” far beyond human settlement.

“It wasn’t easy,” Morrell said. “We had to deal with eight broken bones and several open wounds on our way, relying on the most basic methods of treatment. What kept us going was our belief in principles that inform the Greenlandic way of life: wander, accept, and adapt.”

However, the lifestyle and traditions of Northern Greenlandic peoples are now seen as increasingly in danger, said Morrell, whose ancestors were a family of caribou herders in the Russian North, as climate changes threaten Polar Eskimo culture.

Read the full article.

The Avannaa Expedition Website