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Where the Fjord Forgets

Mitch Holson

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Mitch Holson is an actor turned cinematographer whose work marries the moving and the still image. His early ambitions in film performance nurtured a natural curiosity for the camera, following years of operating as its subject. He went on to study filmmaking at Hofstra University, an education that would lead to camera positions at Atlantic Records and Vice News, where he produced long-form documentary films.

Hailing from the United States, Holson is a born skeptic of systems of power, a perspective that prompted his departure from video to a practice that bore the mark of a filmmaker, but whose output was ultimately more photographic in appearance. His work conveys a fascination with State behavior, and scrutinizes adherence to legislation created to protect humans and their environment. Reflecting his background in film, he employs a handmade slit-scan camera to evidence the passage of time, an approach which bridges technical experimentation with journalistic inquiry.

His most recent work, Where the Fjord Forgets, explores modern ecological warfare in the Norwegian Arctic, a joint investigation with the indigenous Sámi people which he will continue to foster for the foreseeable future.

Mitch Holson is an actor turned cinematographer whose work marries the moving and the still image...

In 1981, Norway passed the Pollution Control Act, requiring all mines to conduct environmental impact assessments if they wished to use the ocean for their waste. Today, Norway remains one of only four nations that still permit ocean dumping of mine tailings, and one of just two issuing new permits. The State maintains that this method causes the least ecological and social harm. Holson’s work examines this claim, questioning Norway’s compliance with its own laws and international obligations, and reflecting on the traditional Sámi knowledge and ecological memory lost in the currents of industrial progress.

Final work

A carnival-tent-shaped concrete building stands among the Norwegian tundra. A small patch of snow sits at the base of the building.

Bidjovagge

The Bidjovagge gold-copper mine, located in Kautokeino municipality, operated from 1971-1975 and again from 1985-1991. Arctic Minerals, a Swedish-based mining company with interest in the region, has secured exploration rights from the Norwegian government to start combing through critical reindeer herding territory in search of promising new ore deposits.

Hundreds of cylindrical rock core samples litter the ground. Five rectangular wooden holders for these samples also lie on the ground.

Carrots

Thousands of core samples, called carrots, litter the floor of Bidjovagge. Much of this ore is sulfidic, meaning that it can become unstable when exposed to air and water, producing acid rock drainage (ARD). Several nearby water sources display signs of metal leaching, a rising concern for both environmental scientists and the Indigenous Sámi peoples.

A young woman stands in front of a wooden home. The walls have been painted with the words "Ellos Vuotna" (Save the Fjord) and two clenched fists.

Ellos Vuotna

Eri Melhus, deputy chairman of Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), the largest environmental action group for young people in Norway, poses in Riehpovuotna, Sápmi. NU, with the assistance of several other organizations, have erected a protest camp outside the Nussir copper mine. Nussir is among a slew of new mining ventures in Norway who have obtained permission to dump millions of tons of waste into the ocean. It is a practice that the State maintains is the "best available technique" (BAT) for causing the "least ecological and social damage".

The wall behind Eri reads "Ellos Vuotna" ("save the fjord" in Northern Sámi).

An abandoned industrial structure. The roof is nonexistent, save for the support beams. The fjord can be seen through the entrance of the structure.

Nussir

The Nussir copper mine aims to be the worlds first "fully electric, zero carbon underground copper mine". Built on the bones of a historic brownfield site (a site bearing some infrastructure from previous mining activity), Nussir plans to dump 30 millions tons of mine waste (called "tailings") into the fjord. A plan that has been sold as both a service to humanity, and a detriment to the environment.

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Where the Fjord Forgets

In 1981, Norway passed the Pollution Control Act, requiring all mines to conduct environmental impact assessments if they wished to use the ocean for their waste. Today, Norway remains one of only four nations that still permit ocean dumping of mine tailings, and one of just t...

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