Necromancer features photos of Greenland by Inuuteq Storch
For nearly as long as I’ve been involved with the world of photography, I’ve had my eye on work coming out of Denmark. Early on in my career, that meant paying attention to photographers including Nicolai Fuglsig, Jan Dago, Erik Refner and Joachim Ladefoged — all in one way or another part of the “Danish School” of photographers.
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That was far too many years ago for me to want to acknowledge. But the truth of the matter is that after all those years, the work coming out of Denmark is still fresh and inspiring to me. In recent years, that has meant the work of Jacob Aue Sobol, and now the incredibly talented Inuuteq Storch.
Storch was chosen to represent Denmark this year at the 60th Venice Biennale. That’s very exciting to me for a couple of reasons. First, I love his work; I published a piece on his book “Keepers of the Ocean” two years ago right here.
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Secondly, it’s always a thrill when someone you admire also grabs the attention of people far more important than you! It gives me a lot of satisfaction to see his success.
Today on In Sight we’re taking a look at a sampling from his newest book, “Necromancer” (Marrow Press, 2024). Like much of his work, this book focuses on his homeland of Greenland.
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The work was made during the dismal days of the pandemic. Storch employs stark black-and-white imagery that gives off an unsettling vibe. And if you remember (how could you not?) those days during the pandemic, you’ll recall the sense of uncertainty and dread that enveloped the globe. Well, Greenland and its inhabitants were no different than the rest of us.
In many ways, “Necromancer” feels like a novel. More specifically, to me, it has vestiges of stark black-and-white neo-noir comics like, say, Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” Even more apt is probably the work of photographers from the era of Japan’s Provoke magazine.
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The sense of uneasiness also conjures a bit of an occult feel as well, which makes sense: Storch’s publisher even says, of the work he was creating during this time, that “Storch’s fascination with occultism and the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds grew — hence its title, Necromancer.”
Storch’s resulting body of work is a captivating, mysterious, beautiful and eerily lush universe in which we can wander and wonder.
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And like all great art, the universe he creates opens itself up to us, generously giving us the opportunity to conjure many different story arcs. In other words, Storch has created a universe not just for himself to inhabit and explore, but for us as well.
You can find out more about Storch’s work on his website, here. And you can buy the book here.
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