Northern Silence by Cato Lein – Display Copy

The images in Northern Silence were taken over a period of twenty-five years, from the mid-1980s to 2012, but it was only recently that they were able to be processed in one of the few darkrooms available in Stockholm. With the exception of the powerful panoramic photograph of a boat sailing on the fjord that leads to his native village, the photographer’s enthusiasm is restrained. The atmosphere is dull, with an opacity more reminiscent of the sharp contrasts of social documentary photography than of classical landscapes.

The Arctic Ocean, illuminated by a full moon or the dancing colours of the Northern Lights. A golden eagle on a rock – or the Barents Sea, like a brilliant aquamarine set against dazzling white snow. It’s hard not to surrender to the grandiose spectacle of nature, and Finnmark in northern Norway has no shortage of photographic interpreters. Cato Lein, who grew up in the tiny fishing village of Båtsfjord on the Varanger peninsula at the end of the Russian tundra and the Gulf Stream, was initially unconvinced by his contribution as a photographer. The accumulation of postcard snapshots imposed a kind of silence on him – a fear of having lost touch with the spirit of the place.

It was only after working as a photographer for several years in Stockholm that he found himself ready to take on the Finnmark landscape again, this time with his own expression and aesthetic. He also decided to survey the Sami region of inland Finnmark, which was completely unknown to him.

Publisher: André Frère Éditions

Hardcover
128 pages
24 x 32 cm