Denmark House in Paris will present "Guardians of the Ocean," a major exhibition dedicated to Inuit artist Inuuteq Storch, running from September 19 to November 23, 2025. The exhibition showcases the work of Storch, who notably represented Denmark at the 60th Venice Art Biennale in 2024, offering visitors an intimate look into Greenlandic life and culture.
Through this comprehensive exhibition, Storch challenges dominant narratives and preconceived notions about Greenland, his homeland, by presenting a deeply personal, intimate, and political interpretation of his environment and cultural heritage. The artist's work serves as a powerful counter-narrative to stereotypical Western perspectives on Arctic life and indigenous communities.
The exhibition's journey is carefully structured around four central themes that define Storch's artistic vision: the sublime, the intimate, intergenerational knowledge, and the colonial past and future. Each dedicated space within the gallery explores one of these themes through a curated selection of works from his most celebrated series, including "Keepers of the Ocean," "Soon Will Summer Be Over," and "Anachronism."
The displayed works are drawn from Storch's extensive photographic series that were published in the acclaimed book "Keepers of the Ocean" in 2022. Following the approach he established in his previous series "At Home We Belong," Storch returns to Sisimiut, his hometown, demonstrating his commitment to highlighting the strength of local territory and the community-centered foundation of his photographic practice.
The deeply intimate images on display explore the materiality of everyday life in Greenland, focusing on the tactile qualities of surfaces and materials including clothing, snow, skin, hair, food, metal, and porcelain. These photographs create a fragmented self-portrait not only of the artist himself but also of his broader community, establishing an organic relationship between the human body, everyday objects, and familiar places.
Many of the shots are deliberately captured at very close range, revealing faces and blurred details that create a sense of physical presence for the viewer within the image itself, establishing an almost corporeal connection between the audience and the subject matter. This technique draws viewers into the intimate world of Greenlandic life that Storch seeks to share.
Born in 1989, Inuuteq Storch is a Kalaallit visual artist and photographer whose educational background spans two continents. He graduated from the prestigious International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York and the Fatamorgana School of Photography in Copenhagen, bringing together diverse photographic traditions and techniques in his work.
Storch's artistic practice uniquely combines family archives, personal narratives, and documentary observations to create a multifaceted exploration of identity and place. In 2024, he achieved international recognition by representing Denmark at the 60th Venice Biennale, where he brought Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to the Danish Pavilion in an unprecedented and groundbreaking presentation.
The exhibition will open with a special reception on September 18 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., with free admission available on a first-come, first-served basis. Le Bicolore at Denmark House is located at 142 Avenue des Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, and the gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. throughout the exhibition period.
