Isolated - Kulusuk, Greenland

• Photographer
  Alina Fedorenko

Greenland, the biggest island on our planet, is a land of extreme conditions. It is the most sparsely populated state, with unemployment rife, the highest suicide rate in the world, alcoholism and exodus, all making up parts of its character. A land where life is ruled by nature. I decided to focus on one particular village named Kulusuk, a small isolated island settlement, in the southeast of Greenland. It is only 8km (5 miles) from north to south and 11km (6.8 miles) from west to east, with its population being less than 300 people. The Inuit have been inhabiting this island from the early 19th century. Most of the inhabitants live in isolated settlements on the coast line, with limited job opportunities. People depend directly on nature through hunting and fishing, but more on the financial support of the Danish government. As a result people have lost putting any effort into their survival and instead find themselves in depression and alcoholism. This small little village has an additional problem without a conceivable solution. Behind the village down the hill, a huge sinking mountain of trash is leaking into the open ocean. Once it had a small garbage incineration plant, but after consumerism reached even this small isolated part of the world more waste is produced than this little incinerator can handle. Incombustible waste amasses around the incinerator and, through the years has become a massive problem of the small isolated village.