(My son flying. Video still by Eivind H. Natvig. Norway, 2018. Watch full short via link below.)
The concept of the future feels abstract. Even as we discover the impact of past sins, most of us live with little regard for what negligence will be harvested by future generations.
The natural beauty of the Nordic countries has turned many of its people into nature romantics and inspired them to create laws to ensure everyone’s unrestricted access to it. The Lofoten Archipelago, where I call home, is a world away from the aggressive economic engines of the United States—Manhattan, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles. My home region is a stunning place of natural beauty and a unique region for fish, birds, and mammals alike.
But there is also oil.
The debate about drilling for oil has been a hot topic for years. My vulnerable region is already suffering from copious amounts of ocean plastic, heavy metals in the animals living here, and an influx of tourists far beyond both human and natural capacity.
I dedicate much of my life to documenting the modern-day footprints and impact of an ever-expanding humanity in the pristine arctic landscapes. I witness the new wind directions and new behaviors by the ocean every day, thus pinpointing not only the local, but the regional and global environmental issues that impact our bodies, our food, and our health.
As a father, I want to capture images that offer a cautionary warning: What kind of world do we want to live in? Places with clean air, clean water, and healthy, diverse wildlife are now ever-diminishing destinations rather than the norm.
We seem to be trying to escape ourselves. At what cost?
Learn more about “SOME PEOPLE”
ABOUT
Eivind H. Natvig (b. 1978) is a non-fiction photographer, director and visual artist based in The Lofoten Archipelago off the coast of northern Norway.
Following years of editorial work, both in at home and abroad, he has concentrated more and more of his energy on personal narratives, resulting in books and exhibitions in galleries and museums. For the past decade he has lived surrounded by ocean and photographed the coastal people and realities from the inside.
“You Are Here Now” (Tartaruga Press 2014) emerged from an extended road trip during a period of self-imposed homelessness. Natvig lived on the couches of strangers throughout Norway creating a project riddled with juxtapositions.
During his next major project “Come, for all is now ready,” (Utenfor Allfarvei 2019) Natvig witnessed the circle of life play out in small islands societies scattered across arctic Norway. The work bears a distinct visual expression occupying a space somewhere between documentary photography and chanted verse. A voice not unlike like the prayers of the outlying faithful which the project seeks to chronicle.
Natvig sees his work as a means of discovering new points of view and a tool for conveying the experiences common to all humankind. At the core of “Today I am a human,” and “كان HERE / WAS כאן” one finds a strong social and political conscience through examining a century of involuntary migration in the Middle East. His ruminations on the human condition provide a poetic testament on how profound and astonishing ordinary life can be.
He has worked domestic and internationally for, with and been published by publications such as Financial Times Magazine, Time Magazine, Morgenbladet, VG, Magasinet Plot, Magasinet Henne, Dagens Næringsliv, Fortune Magazine, Mare, The New Yorker, New York Times, National Geographic, Washington Post, Dagbladet and Klassekampen to name a few.
He is the founding member of production company HAI KU and co-founder of publishing house Molo Press 2020-23. He has made three monographs, two collaborative books and is in numerous anthologies.
Currently Natvig is working on various projects focusing on environmental health, climate change, water and other pressing themes related to Global Health.
under // wonder is one of his most compelling works along the themes of environmental health.