Distant Early Warning | An Interview with Louie Palu

 South x Southeast: Tell us about your project on the Arctic.

Louie Palu:

I began this project after covering the war in Afghanistan, violence in Mexico and Ukraine. I wondered what ever happened to the Distant Early Warning Line, which was a frontline of sorts to protect from attack over the North Pole from Russia. I began covering the Arctic in 1993 for several assignments up through 2005. Then I started this project, which I titled Distant Early Warning, as a play on words thinking about war, climate change, and how we think about security. I started in 2015 on my own, then was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, followed by an assignment from National Geographic. I expanded the work to Finland, Norway, and Sweden a few years ago. The full archive of images is over 200,000 stills, texts, and videos.

SxSE:

I recently watched and listened to you speak at the Coal + Ice: Seeing Change – Climate Storytelling from the Arctic exhibition. You began by explaining how the United States is geographically part of the Arctic, and why the Arctic is important militarily for the US. Could you expound on that for us here?

LP:

The Arctic is important to every country in the world, it is the air conditioner of the planet. The warmer it gets the harder it becomes to cool the planet. Geopolitically the Arctic is often a forgotten region, but now it has become the subject of speculation and possible unprecedented territorial claims based on imagined oil and mineral deposits that could be revealed due to climate change. These are all invented narratives, but so was the justification for invading Iraq and it still happened. Both can be connected to dire consequences if governments don’t protect the right things for the right reasons. So, facts count if we are going to go to a place we don’t understand that could result in catastrophe. The Arctic needs to be protected. Based on what we are seeing unfold, based on science, and based on my first-person field reporting, the Arctic as a viable region based on weather is in trouble.

SxSE:

Has there ever been a war or any conflict in the Arctic?

LP:

The Second World War was an intense modern period of conflict in the Arctic mostly taking place in Finland and Norway. There was additional sea and aerial level fighting around Greenland, Denmark, Iceland, and Russia. However, centuries before this the Vikings were active throughout Northern Europe and into North America. During the Cold War there was significant nuclear submarine activity. The largest construction project in the North American Arctic was the Distant Early Warning Line, which is now known as the North Warning System. This was constructed to detect a nuclear attack over the Pole from the Soviet Union and now Russia. However, what I find important to consider are events like the Giant Mine strike in the Arctic hub of Yellowknife in 1993. A bomb was planted in the underground gold mine during a long bitter labor strike resulting in the deaths of 9 miners.

Deadhorse Alaska which is a North Slope industrialized oil producing camp in Prudhoe Bay. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

The Fox-Main Long Range Radar site located in Hall beach, Nunavut in Canada. It is also known as Site 30 and is part of the North Warning System that superseded the Distant Early Warning Line begun in 1954 to detect possible Russian missile and bomber attacks over the North Pole. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

Canadian soldiers in Resolute Bay, Nunavut tunneling into the side of a hill creating a shelter known as a snow cave. This is an improvised shelter for survival in extreme Arctic weather when there is limited or lack of conventional shelter like a tent available. Snow caves can be heated with a single candle. . (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

. A member of the flight crew from a special military cargo aircraft with the Air National Guard pulls on his cable to connecting his headset to communicate with the pilots while delivering supplies, fuel and research personnel and scientists to Summit Station in Greenland. The New York Air National Guard flies to Summit Station on the ice sheet of Greenland supporting the National Science Foundation. Nearly all Arctic search and rescue and many forms of logistics are supported in some way by the military throughout the Arctic. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

SxSE:

Please show and tell us how climate change is currently affecting military operations, and what extreme climate change in the near future will mean for us militarily.

LP:

My project has many hidden or in plain sight symbols related to the Arctic beyond the military. The main message is that no military is more powerful than nature. Nature is the ultimate power and indigenous knowledge is how we will survive or destroy ourselves.

SxSE:

In what way is the industrialization of the Arctic increasing the effects of climate change?

LP:

The industrialization of the entire planet is increasing the effects of climate change. The spread of that activity to the Arctic will further disrupt indigenous communities and wildlife. Driving your fossil fuel powered car or working on the internet supported by electricity is destroying the climate humans need to live-  in real time as I type this answer. The fact that the Arctic has been an untouched region dominated by nature until now visually exemplifies and compounds what we are doing to the environment.

SxSE:

What lessons did you learn from the Inuit people about caring for and protecting the Earth?

LP:

The greatest asset I have as a photographer is listening to the people I intend on photographing. Taking my time when I can to listen, learn, and witness. I can only make effective documentary photographs if I collect facts and help people understand the issues, the stakes, and that truth matters. The Inuit I have spent years learning from have taught me that nature is the ultimate power, respect it and it will provide, abuse it and it will consume you.

SxSE:

What was the most memorable moment related to animals during your project on the Arctic?

LP:

I saw many polar bears, alive and dead. They are magnificent animals and I understand why people make them symbols of the Arctic. But ravens are even more interesting, they are in many parts of the Arctic and the smartest bird in the world.

A crew member of a U.S. Navy attack submarine seen by the access hatch surfaced through the ice during ice operations and weapon testing of torpedoes in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska, United States. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

Canadian soldiers prepare targets for a firing range outside Resolute on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada during a Canadian military Operation in Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut Territory. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

De-icing aircraft after returning from transporting military personnel and equipment to Hall Beach, Nunavut in Canada. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

A Canadian Flight Engineer on an Arctic Survival course at Resolute Bay in Canada seen laying in the start of a fighter trench during a lesson on cutting snow blocks. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

SxSE:

What has been the most challenging aspect of this project?

LP:

Aside from the constantly exhausting task of raising money to work on this, I think the isolation can be hard to beat. I love cold weather, including when it’s down to -50 degrees or lower. I like feeling uncomfortable as much as possible. But the days of darkness near the end of the year and being away from my wife is hard. However, I do get a lot of emotional energy from my Inuit friends who have a bottomless wealth of humor and friendship.

SxSE:

You have a remarkable history as a documentary photographer, from war zones to environmental concerns such as this. What prompted you early on to pursue this career? Is there advice you’d like to share for those who would consider following in your path?

LP:

Everyone has an interesting personal narrative that can drive their work. Choose issues and topics when you can that interest you and that you have a passion for. Growing up with my family and my entire neighbourhood of immigrants who could not speak English when they arrived in Canada. They were children during the Second World War, that comes with a deep level of trauma. Growing up as an immigrant in post-colonial Canada where the royal family is branded on everything resulted in a conflict of identity of how I fit in. These are foundations of how I think and feel. Anyone reading this has their own unique story, Use that to fuel your inspiration.

. U.S. soldiers parachute onto the Donnelly Training Area ear Fort Greely which is a launch site for counter-ballistic missiles in Alaska. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

Canadian Arctic Operations Advisors on a range reconnaissance on aircraft wreckage outside of Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island in temperatures below -50 degrees Celsius. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

Canadian Soldiers walking on the shore of a lake at the North end of Cornwallis Island where they traveled to by snowmobile from Resolute Bay in temperatures that at times were below -60 degrees Celsius. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

A U.S. Navy diver assisting the Arctic Submarine Laboratory recover a torpedo fired from the Los Angeles Class submarine the U.S.S. Hartford during weapons testing North of Deadhorse, Alaska in the Beaufort Sea. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

SxSE:

What do you do when you are not working as a photographer? What supports, inspires, and informs your work?

LP:

This is a great question, because everyone needs to be happy and I don’t think being entirely focused on work is healthy. My wife is my best friend so we do nearly everything together. I freshwater fish in rivers, ponds, and lakes a lot, all catch and release. I also ride horses; this has given me an incredible bond with animals as well as being therapeutic. I am also very much interested in cinema, books, and music. What am I watching, reading and listening to lately? I just rewatched the 2018 film Prospect, directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell. I am always reading several books at a time, The Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust is part of some research I am doing. And I just downloaded some new doom metal, and plus songs by Beyonce.

SxSE:

Louis, thank you for inviting us into this project, and taking the time to educate us on issues involving the Arctic. We wish you the best, and look forward to updates as you continue on this journey.

Canadian soldiers building igloos as an improvised survival shelter near a camp at the Crystal City in Resolute Bay, Nunavut in Canada. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

. Military air crew from Canada, UK and France learning how to build snow caves at the Canadian Forces Crystal City training facility near Resolute Bay in Nunavut, Canada. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/Agence VU)

BIO:

Louie Palu is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on social political issues such as war, human rights and poverty.

His work has appeared in festivals, publications, exhibitions and collections internationally. His project covering politics in Washington from 2019-2021 was selected for a World Press Photo award.  He is a 2016-17 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a Harry Ransom Center Research Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the recipient of numerous awards including Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Grants, 2011-12 Bernard L Schwartz Fellowship with the New America Foundation and Milton Rogovin Fellowship at the University of Arizona. He is well known for his work which examines social political issues such as human rights, conflict and poverty. He is currently working on a long-term project on the Arctic partnered with National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Society and is a National Geographic Explorer. In 2019 his work was selected for the Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture. His work is held in numerous collections including the Smithsonian, U.S. Library of Congress and National Gallery of Art.

Louie graduated with an associate of the Ontario College of Art diploma and has an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

louiepalu.com

Editorial Representation – Agence VU