For some it is a nightmare: temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius, no own shower, the food you have to hunt yourself. But for Camille Michel, this very life she met in Siorapaluk, Greenland, is beautiful.
For five years, the photographer has been traveling across the island to document the everyday life of the inhabitants. A friend told her one day about Siorapaluk, one of the northernmost settlements in the world.
The village is located at 78 degrees north latitude 1362 kilometers from the North Pole, lies between a mountain and the pack ice. Here, the polar day lasts from April to August, according to Michel - during this time, the sun is constantly above the horizon and it never gets really dark.
For four months, Michel lived in Siorapaluk to capture people's everyday lives. The village consists of about 20 small colored wooden houses in which live about 40 inhabitants, especially hunters and their families. There is not much here: a shop, a post office, a bank, a church, a small library and a school. According to Michel, a single shower and a washing machine are shared by all the villagers.
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Greenland's northernmost village: between a mountain and pack iceMost people go hunting, a few goods are available in the shop. Twice a year a cargo ship brings products, every two weeks a helicopter comes by. However, if it is stormy or foggy, it may take longer for the residents to replenish their supplies.
Michel integrated into the everyday life of men, women and children, drove them with sleds, went hunting with them, celebrated birthdays. Although the photographer already knew the basics of the Greenlandic language, it was not easy for them to communicate - in Siorapaluk people speak a special dialect.
The residents are very proud of their culture and traditions, but have also opened up to the modern world to improve their comfort: they have televisions, microwaves, motor boats and cell phones. At the same time there is no running water in the houses, the hunters are still hunting with sledges.
In recent years, the population of the village steadily decreased. As many as twice as many people lived here in 2012, according to Michel. Many have left to live in larger cities with more job opportunities.
But this is not the only challenge that the inhabitants face: global warming is triggering more and more natural disasters, according to Michel, the risk of landslides and floods in Greenland has increased significantly in recent years.
The thinning of the ice and the pollution of the oceans are also a problem for the inhabitants. How long the village still remains, therefore, remains questionable.