Lukas Kreibig

A harsh life in a harsh town: There is no cinema in Uummannaq, no shopping mall and no road outside the town.

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The Greenlandic priest of the Lutheran Church of Greenland in Uummannaq is walking toward his chapel on the First Advent. He is one of the only confidants that the town's population can rely on. "When the light changes, people look inwards, sometime

The head of a narwhale served in a bucket after a baptism in a home Uummannaq. The skin of the head and the tail of the narwhale are a delicacy in Greenland and people buy them directly from the fisherman who turn for a short period of time into nar

Old guns hang on the outside of a house in Uummannaq. Hunting is an old tradition, but the modern way of fishing provides more income because seal fur is no longer popular within the country or for exportation.

The arctic continuous to melt with each passing minute through global warming. The average temperature in the arctic has increased about almost 4 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century.

A young boy is walking through a winter landscape in one of the abandoned settlements around Uummannaq which is now used by the Uummannaq children's home to get kids away from daily routines or bad habits like smoking for some weeks. Greenland's rem

Trash in Uummannaq is dumped and then burned. Feces are collected and then led through a pipe into the ocean. Most old dogs who can't be used for dog sledding anymore are brought to the dump and then shot or strangled. Young puppies often die of dis

Normally in late spring or early winter, the temperature of the sea around Uummannaq drops below zero and the ice slowly starts to freeze. This connects Uummannaq to the surrounding settlements and the mainland, which is reachable by snow scooter or

When the ice gets thicker around Uummannaq, it is difficult for the fisherman to navigate. In 2018, the sea around Uummannaq was frozen only in mid-February, alarmingly late compared to the years before, due to a very warm winter. The sea ice almost

The Heart of a Seal

Once I saw the first glimpses of mountain that Uummannaq, Greenland, an island town off the country’s western coast, centers around, I was instantly drawn to the beauty and rawness of this remote place. I wanted to understand and document how life really looks like in a community with such a harsh climate and long traditions. In the autumn 2017, I started my photographic exploration in and around this town.

This project was continued when I returned for a second trip in February 2018, where I also witnessed the warmest winter on record in the Arctic, -30° Celsius. Unfortunately, the effects from global warming on this coastal town were apparent, with instances like the sea ice melting too early. Thus far, I have spent nearly three months working on this project.

For countless generations, the Inuit who reside here have relied on their natural surroundings to survive. The purpose of this project is to show how the Inuit culture intersects with the town’s present day conditions and to pose the question of how long the area’s traditions will remain in contrast with its changing circumstances.

Lukas Kreibig

Originally from Constance in southern Germany, Lukas Kreibig (b. 1987) started studying Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of Hanover. After a year in the International Photojournalism program at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus, Denmark, Lukas began to narrow his focus to primarily long-term stories, in an effort to dig deeper than a normal story is able to go.

Lukas Kreibig is based in Hamburg and working for national and international magazines and newspapers.