Svalbard – An Arcticficial Life
Svalbard – An Arcticficial Life presents an uncommon society that emerged in the very North of our planet, in the Svalbard archipelago. Julia de Cooker created this photo project based on a feeling of »strange normality«.
Where the polar landscapes give an impressive sense of power, life seems unreal and familiar at the same time. A surprising place where one cannot find a single tree to build a house. In contrast to its hostile environment the modernity of the city surprises.
![](http://byfrenchies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/svalbard_web01_0.jpg)
Svalbard never knew an indigenous population; it is one of the rare places on earth without traditions. So close to the North Pole, a small atypical community lives out of step with the rest of the world, a bubble of 2,300 inhabitants from more than 40 different countries.
![](http://byfrenchies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/svalbard_web04_0.jpg)
This population, of which about a quarter changes every year, is almost science fiction. Svalbard is a temporary place for temporary life, a passage: except accidentally, no one is born and no one dies there.
Julia de Cooker is a French/Dutch photographer based in Paris.
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![](http://byfrenchies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/svalbard_web61_0.jpg)
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