Exhibition: Mapping Memories

When landscapes change, what happens to memory?

The melting ice is already changing environments and making us redraw maps. We know this because we see it. Satellite images, archive photos and geographical surveys reveal the true scope of climate change. They show us clearly, where the landscapes have moved and what has disappeared. But what about the lives and cultures within those places?

Just as permafrost thaw encroaches directly on infrastructure, transport and housing, it also seeps into the cracks of personal and cultural places. Places that hold meaningful stories and cultural heritage. Places that connect individual and collective identity.

For thousands of years, these landscapes have not only been inhabited, but remembered, named and passed on through stories. In Greenland, people have with and through these environments for more than 4.500 years.

Yet, many of these memories and experiences have rarely been recorded on paper or screen, especially from the perspective of everyday people themselves. That is beginning to change. This project is a start.

Welcome to the Mapping Memories exhibition.   

10:00    Doors open: welcome coffee and mingling

10:30    Opening words by Karl Sandgreen, Director of the Icefjord Centre, Ilulissat

10:40    Project background by Joan Nymand Larsen, Senior Scientist, Stefansson Arctic Institute

10:50    Future of the exhibition by Justine Ramage, Senior Researcher, Nordregio

11:00    Panel moderated by Anne Katrine Ebbesen, Senior Communications Advisor, Nordregio

11:30    Official launch – Karl Sandgreen, Director of the Icefjord Centre, Ilulissat

Ilulissat Icefjord Centre

Located beside the UNESCO World Heritage landscape of the Ilulissat Icefjord, the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre is both a cultural meeting place and a gateway to understanding Greenland’s changing environment.

The centre has played a central role in the project through interviews, translations, local coordination and community engagement. The original idea for Mapping Memories emerged through discussions with the Icefjord Centre about the urgent need to document stories and cultural sites connected to Greenlandic landscapes and traditions.

Places.nu

places.nu is the participatory digital mapping platform used throughout the project. Developed by geographer and cartographer Levi Westerveld, the platform allows stories, photographs and memories to be connected directly to specific places on a map.

The platform combines storytelling and geography to create a living archive of landscapes, memories and lived experiences across the Arctic.

Stefansson Arctic Institute

The Stefansson Arctic Institute in Iceland is a research institution specialising in Arctic societies, environments and communities. Within Mapping Memories, the institute contributes expertise on Arctic sustainability, cultural heritage and community-based research.

The institute also supports the project’s broader goal of connecting local and Indigenous knowledge with climate research and Arctic policy discussions.

University of Akureyri

The University of Akureyri contributes academic expertise related to Arctic studies, environmental change and interdisciplinary research collaboration.

Through the project, the university supports research and knowledge exchange focused on how climate change affects both cultural heritage and everyday life in Arctic communities.

Vestlandsforsking

Vestlandsforsking (Western Norway Research Institute) is an independent Norwegian research institute working with climate adaptation, sustainability and regional development.

Within Mapping Memories, Vestlandsforsking contributes knowledge related to environmental change, climate impacts and Arctic resilience, helping connect local stories to wider questions about adaptation and future planning.

Researchers, youth participants and local contributors

At the heart of the project are the people who shared their stories, memories and experiences.

Young people have participated in documenting stories from Elders and community members through interviews and participatory mapping. This intergenerational approach helps strengthen knowledge transfer between generations while preserving memories connected to places under pressure from climate change.

The stories featured in the exhibition reflect personal experiences of everyday life, environmental change, cultural continuity and belonging across Greenland and the Arctic.

NAPA – The Nordic Institute in Greenland

Mapping Memories is supported by NAPA – The Nordic Institute in Greenland through the Nordic Arctic Programme. NAPA works to strengthen Nordic and Arctic cooperation through culture, knowledge-sharing and community-based initiatives across the region.

Through its support for projects connected to youth engagement, Arctic perspectives and cultural resilience, NAPA helps create collaborations that strengthen local communities and make Arctic voices more visible across the Nordic region.

The Nordic Arctic Programme supports projects that contribute to socially resilient and sustainable Arctic communities across generations. For Mapping Memories, this support has made it possible to connect storytelling, cultural heritage and climate research through exhibitions, digital mapping and intergenerational collaboration.

Anne-Katrine Ebbesen, Senior Communications Advisor, Nordregio

anne-katrine.ebbesen@nordregio.org 

 +46 723034204