A quiet patriotism runs through many of Dorsa’s portraits, reflecting the ways in which a new generation are finding their place between the country’s traditions and the pull of modernity. Take Nava, a young Queer woman in Sisimiut, who was born into a family of dog sledders and is proudly adorned in traditional furs, or Aggu, a highly regarded up-and-coming chef in Nuuk, who blends his classical French training with a fine dining approach to Greenlandic cuisine. Together the portraits build upon each other, capturing a specific moment in time, while being tethered to a lineage of cultural traditions which are continually iterated on as they pass between the generations.
As a medium, photography’s potency comes from the ways the meaning of an image can change over time. Unexpectedly, in the middle of making this work, Dorsa was forced to confront his project anew when the President of the United States threatened to seize Greenland. Strangers he met began questioning his intentions when they heard his American accent. Planes to Greenland, which were previously empty on his earlier trips, became full with US tourists, political content creators and reporters. This unexpected plot twist brought forward the uncomfortable fact that it’s not just the environment that shifts when the ice retreats, but the geopolitical landscape changes as well.