Rephotography: a dialogue with history in an Arctic Landscape Tyrone Martinsson, PhD, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg This presentation is of a visual investigation concerned with environmental photography and narratives. It has its foundation in the understanding of a dramatic change in the wild landscape of Arctic Svalbard. It is about the perception of the Arctic and relate to the production and representation, historical context, contemporary applications and interpretations of historical photographs through rephotography. Photographic studies on site, in the field, based on historical photographs and using the method of rephotography, gives us images of now and then that speaks beyond the possibilities of written records. The photographs show not only changes over time through specific data in the images but also addresses issues regarding shifting cultural views of how the wilderness areas has been visualized over time. They are also part of a wider and interdisciplinary context on how these areas of the earth, the wild places, have been valued and is valued in our contemporary world. The result is a visual record – photographic documents and artistic representations – as Ansel Adams at times defined photographs. It is the dialogue between science and art that lay within Adams definition of the photograph has been one of the key motivations for this project. How can photography and art contribute to the understanding and story of the changes of our environment? Photography is a direct way of bearing witness and creating sequences of evidential data on changes over time in landscapes. The visual power of photographs can be applied to the narrative of the brutality of facts in a world of vanishing landscapes. Photography function as both the witness to mankind’s brutal interference with land and sea as well as being a voice for what to save and for the beauty of the wild places wherever they are to be found. The issues of the impact of our industrialised culture on nature are our times most important issues in regards to the future of our existence in a world as we still know it. It is of great importance to understand the changes to be able to prepare for the future to come. The visual impact of photography has a tradition of being able to raise awareness among the public and support policymakers, politicians, researchers, environmentalists and activists. The research project is primarily based on a focus area in North West Spitsbergen, Svalbard. This area is located within Northwest Spitsbergen National Park, a place of immense beauty. I spent three weeks in this area together with two field assistants July 2012. This is part of an on going research project and the paper is an argument for the importance of practice based research in photography as well as a report of results from a rephotographic fieldwork in the Arctic.