In this video, Photographer Subhankar Banerjee discusses how his photographs of the Arctic are used in the context of art, science, and activism to draw attention to the importance of this endangered wildlife refuge. In 2001, when the administration of US President George W. Bush pushed for a lifting of the ban on oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Banerjee began photographing the region. His photographs of the landscape and wild animals, primarily caribous, have been shown in galleries and art museums, but he also collaborates with environmental activists and research institutions.
“For me a photograph is not just an object meant to induce pleasure or spark intrigue and other human emotions, but it is a potential portal to activism and knowledge, collaborative social environmental activism and interdisciplinary scholarship that leads to new forms of knowledge.”
— Subhankar Banerjee
