Climate Change, Arctic Aesthetics, and Indigenous Agency in the Age of the Anthropocene

Abstract

As the world enters into a new century, Arctic countries, indigenous groups, non-state actors, and even non-Arctic nations such as China and India are intensifying their political and economic investments in the circumpolar region. The potential of an ice-free pole in the near future promises unprecedented opportunities of energy resources, trade routes, and mineral extraction. Nonetheless, few political leaders have or will ever travel to the far north. In a place so geographically remote from those who are taking interest, images and supportive textual discourse have become a medium for legitimising actions and statements. Each selective compositional or contextual element determines the realm of visibility and invisibility, enacting a particularly politicised disposition from its audience. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate how images of indigenous communities in the Arctic function as currency in debates of climate change, human rights, and native agency. First, the piece explores the human rights implications of a changing climate for native Arctic communities. This article then explores the implications of narratives of traditional knowledge being drawn onto abstract grids of historic victimisation through their engagement with international law, institutions, and human rights campaigns. Through this, the article shows that these images and aesthetic codes have constructed and conditioned changing perceptions of human rights and responsibility in a melting Arctic. The analysis considers the role visual narratives generally play in human rights within the climate change discourse and their implications for law reform and strategies for achieving climate justice.