Ragnar Axelsson: Faces of the North

by Mary Ellen Mark, Ragnar Axelsson (Photographer)

Raised on an isolated farm in southern Iceland, Ragnar Axelsson (born 1958) became captivated early on by the brutal beauty of the North Atlantic and the delicate interactions between its inhabitants and their environment. Born of that fascination, Faces of the North, first published in a small print run in 2004, established Axelsson as one of the leading documentary photographers of our time. It contained about 100 lushly austere, powerful images of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, taken over two decades. Long out of print, Faces of the North is now republished in a special anniversary edition that echoes the format of Axelsson's latest publications, Last Days of the Arctic and Behind the Mountains. Containing the original selection of photographs documenting the vanishing lifestyles of the North Atlantic, the new edition also includes previously unpublished photos, Axelsson's personal accounts of the journeys which led to the images' creation and the artist's sketches of the photographs, drawn nightly as he traveled through the Arctic. In the 2004 edition of Faces of the North, Axelsson collected the images of farmers, hunters and fishermen in the Arctic and the Atlantic that he became best known for; in the 2014 edition, his oeuvre comes full circle, as he looks back upon the foundation of his photographic passion and career.

Genres: Photography

411 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2014

About the author

Mary Ellen Mark, born 1940, has achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. She is a contributing photographer to The New Yorker and has published photo-essays and portraits in such publications as Life, New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. For over four decades, she has travelled extensively to make pictures that reflect a high degree of humanism. Today, she is recognized as one of our most respected and influential photographers. Her images of our world's diverse cultures have become landmarks in the field of documentary photography. Her portrayals of Mother Teresa, Indian circuses, and brothels in Bombay were the product of many years of work in India. A photo essay on runaway children in Seattle became the basis of the academy award nominated film STREETWISE, directed and photographed by her husband, Martin Bell.

Reviews

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a slim 144 page edition published in Iceland by Qerndu in 2019

These are beautiful photographs I found in this lovely book in an apt I rented in Copenhagen, Denmark. Haunting especially after my recent read by Gretel Ehrlich.