On my Bookshelf | Ragnar Axelsson – Behind Mountains

On my Bookshelf

In this column, I occasionally present a photo book that is close to my heart. It is not – or not necessarily – a new publication. It is simply a book that somehow fell into my hands and that I would like to recommend to others. And yes – of course it’s on my bookshelf.

It’s a bit of a continuation of my Photo book of the month column – just not necessarily as regular as before. And I’ve generally made the column a bit shorter and tighter. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

#Transparency: This is a review copy kindly provided by Kehrer-Verlag.

Prologue

In March 2025, I’ll be a little more diligent and even present you with a second photo book. There are two pragmatic reasons for this. Firstly, this time the book is actually brand new and was only published on 19 March this year. And secondly, the publisher kindly sent me a review copy. But as I said, that’s just the pragmatic part. The more important part is that I am a big fan of Ragnar Axelsson’s photography. So much so that my third book review ever on this blog was of the photographer’s legendary book ‘Faces of the North’. It was the book of the month for October 2018 in the old version of this column, which was called ‘Photo Book of the Month’ back then. 

Unfortunately, this book is no longer available new. Neither in the first edition from 2004 nor in the 2016 edition that I own. For those who would still like to have it but don’t want to spend that much money for a rare used copy, there is a chance. It is currently available in a small edition, at least.

However, it’s all the more gratifying that Kehrer is now offering a total of three books by Ragnar Axelsson with this new book. The other two are ‘Arctic Heroes’ and ‘Where the World is Melting’ – I also own the latter and can also highly recommend it.

But enough of this prologue…

About the Photographer | Ragnar Axelsson

Ragnar Axelsson, also known under the pseudonym RAX, is an Icelandic photographer, born 1958. He worked as a photojournalist for the Icelandic daily newspaper ‘Morgunblaðið’ from 1976 to 2020 [!], but also freelanced for many well-known magazines, including LIFE, National Geographic or Time. However, more than almost any other documentary photographer in the world, his name is associated with his work as a photographer in some very remote areas of the Arctic, which he has been doing for more than 40 years.

His images, most of which were created in Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Siberia and on the Faroe Islands, are legendary and almost unparalleled. In addition to the Arctic landscape, it is above all the people and their lives and work that Ragnar Axelsson impressively documents in black and white. In them, he captures that equally rough, close and elementary relationship between people in this environment, which is often quite hostile to humans.

This relationship is also subject to constant – sometimes threatening – transformation due to the consequences of climate change, which have become particularly evident in the Arctic in recent decades.

Things are changing in front of our eyes. That’s undeniable.

Ragnar Axelsson

In addition to the nine books that have now been published, Ragnar Axelsson has received numerous awards and has been honoured in some important exhibitions worldwide.

About the Photo Book | Behind Mountains

I’ll try to put it a bit more simply as follows: For me, ‘Faces of the North’ is something of an overarching view of Ragnar Axelsson’s entire legacy. A look at the big picture. The other books mentioned here then tend to focus on more individual aspects, such as sled dogs in ‘Arctic Heroes’ or climate change in ‘The World is Melting’. This is not meant to be disparaging in any way – these are just the smaller books, in terms of size as well. But some of them do shed more light on a topic.

The theme of ‘Behind Mountains’ is the life and work of sheep farmers in Axelsson’s home country of Iceland. More specifically, it is about sheep herding in Landmannaafréettur, a highland region between three volcanic systems in the south of the country. Geothermal activity, glacial erosion and often very harsh weather have created an almost unreal landscape there. Every autumn in September, the sheep herders drive their animals down from the summer pastures back to a large, round collecting pen. There they are sorted and returned to the individual farms. This work is done largely on horseback and has remained almost unchanged for centuries.

From his rich archive of material, Ragnar Axelsson has divided the main phases and works more or less chronologically into six chapters. The result is 192 pages of 103 – I have to repeat myself here – impressive photos, printed in triplex on high-quality paper. The format of the book is somewhat smaller than the other two Kehrer books – and of course quite a bit smaller than ‘Faces of the North’. However, the photographs are almost full-size on the pages and therefore by no means too small. As far as I can tell, the pictures were taken between 1980 and 2022.

What I like about it

Actually, the question should be, what don’t I like about this book? The answer is of course: nothing. I’ve sometimes wondered whether I might be particularly fond of Ragnar Axelsson because I don’t have a special (photographic) relationship with the Arctic regions. I’ve only been to Iceland once – and I’ve never been this far north before. And certainly not in the highlands or in winter. For this reason alone, I have the utmost respect for photographing in these conditions. I freeze just looking at the pictures…

… but of course that’s not it (alone). The photography of Ragnar Axelsson is fascinating in general. Direct, close, emotional and yet also fantastic in terms of composition and lighting. I think you can always recognise someone’s visual language from their photos. Ragnar Axelsson was not only born and raised in Iceland. He has spent his life travelling and photographing large parts of the region around the Arctic Circle in addition to his home country. You can see and feel the love and respect for the people of the Far North in his pictures. 

It is not the technical perfection of the images that is most important to him, but the content and the emotion and power that it conveys. There are many blurred or very grainy images – especially from the days of analogue film, of course. However, this is not only not a problem. Some of these images are my absolute favourites, though. 

About Climate Change

I would like to briefly return to a not-so-pleasant topic that affects us all. Even if man-made climate change is not a direct topic in this book, it also plays a role here. Because here, too, the question will always be whether and how this tradition and the work of sheep farmers will change. And Ragnar Axelsson is certainly one of the photographers in the world who repeatedly takes up and impressively documents this human issue, especially in the Arctic. And now with unique photographic material from more than 4 decades.

I listen to scientists and read about what they have to say, and I think they need a voice with the help of our pictures. Because I feel like they don’t get heard enough, even though they have much to say.

Ragnar Axelsson

Some final words

And now a few words about the complete works, or rather Ragnar Axelsson’s books in general. It may have become clear already, but I’d rather clarify it here once more. Both ‘Behind Mountains’ and all the other books I’ve mentioned here are compilations of images spanning decades. These books do not represent the work of specific, independent projects. There are quite a few pictures that appear in all three books that I own. 

In my opinion, the book presented here is an excellent introduction to get to know Ragnar Axelsson. On the one hand, the topic is so broad – and also illustrated with pictures from four decades – that you get a good overview of his work. On the other hand, the book is newly available and also attractively priced.

But I’m warning you. Ragnar Axelsson’s photography can be so captivating that you might end up looking for a used and significantly more expensive copy of ‘Faces of the North’… 😉