Photography: Svarlbard
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Svarlbard Gautier Deblonde has made five trips to the Norwegian archipelago of Svarlbard in the High Arctic since 2003. Spitsbergen, the main island in the group, lies between latitude 76.5° and 80° north. For 115 days each year, the sun does not rise above the horizon. -
Barentsburg Barentsburg is a Russian mining town. It was established by the Norwegians in 1912 and bought by the Soviet Union in 1932. Now it is in the decline, with a workforce of around 600 men and women from Russia and Ukraine. -
Inside Barentsburg The Russian and Ukrainian workers in Barentsburg are employed by the Russian-owned Arctikugol Trust, which has been mining here since 1932. -
Pyramiden Pyramiden, founded as a mining settlement by Sweden and sold to the USSR in 1927, is now a ghost town. It was abandoned in 1998, though there are plans to redevelop it for tourists. -
Relics from the past Areas of Svarlbard have been intensively mined since the beginning of the twentieth century and abandoned industrial relics appear like phantoms in the landscape.
A selection of photographs from the Arctic archipelago. See the full series of pictures in Granta 101
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