Book Arctic Passage

Posted by Amanda Wiltse on September 15, 2026

Louie Palu, A Canadian Ranger lies in the ice on the shore of Clyde Inlet training for search and rescue operations in Clyde River, Nunavut, 2015 / 2018; inkjet print, 35 1/8 x 48 7/8 inches; Courtesy of the artist.

Exhibits USA is excited to announce that Arctic Passage is one of the new additions to our touring roster.

Arctic Passage draws from a multi-year project (2015-2018) by Canadian American photojournalist, Louie Palu, and provides a look at the evolving militarization in the North American Arctic driven by imagined threats from nations with competing economic interests in the region. In one of the most extreme and challenging environments on the planet, this exhibition examines the relationships between military personnel and Indigenous communities as a result of mounting geo-political tensions and climate change.

View the full gallery and see the exhibition’s tour schedule.

Once considered nearly impenetrable, the Arctic is losing roughly 21,000 square miles of ice each year and warming faster than any other place on the planet. As climate change melts its icy armor, the region is taking on strategic importance, worldwide.

“For me, the Arctic is about the unknown, about our imagination. It is often seen through a map, cliché images of ice and animals, outdated stereotypes of indigenous peoples and scientific statistics. It can also be a blank slate for invented narratives to suit fantasies of what people want the Arctic to be. I would like to challenge such perceptions and prompt a shift in consciousness, producing work to make us ask questions about a critically important part of our planet that will reshape not only our environment but also our ideas and strategies of security for the context of global warming.”

Louie Palu, Canadian American photojournalist

Louie Palu, Just south of the Arctic Circle soldiers from US Army Alaska parachute from aircraft onto the Donnelly Training Area near Fort Greely, which is a US Army launch site for counter ballistic missiles, 2015 / 2018; inkjet print, 14 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches; Courtesy of the artist.

Louie Palu, Canadian soldiers on the Arctic Operations Advisors course build igloos as an improvised survival shelter at the Crystal City training facility near Resolute Bay, Nunavut in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius, 2015 / 2018; inkjet print, 20 x 26 3/8 inches; Courtesy of the artist.

Louie Palu, Canadian Arctic Operations Advisors walk on the shore of a lake on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut. This special unit of soldiers was created to advise and support soldiers who are less experienced in the Arctic and also is mandatory for any soldiers who wish to be Ranger Instructors who work with the mostly Inuit dominated unit in the north, 2015 / 2018; inkjet print, 35 1/8 x 48 7/8 inches; Courtesy of the artist.

Louie Palu, The USS Connecticut, a US Navy nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, seen surfaced through the ice in the Beaufort Sea during operations and weapons testing north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Submarine activity in the Arctic has increased as tensions between the US and Russia have heightened in what many are calling a “New Cold War”. Submarines are able to navigate below the ice and operate for months due to being nuclear powered. They are used for a variety of tasks including hunting other submarines and signals intelligence where they can gather information like a mobile spy base, 2015 / 2018; inkjet print, 35 1/8 x 48 7/8 inches; Courtesy of the artist.