From Greenland to Nepal in pictures

Boston Globe

28-02-2025

For a quarter century,
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The emphasis on people in that statement is crucial. On first inspection, what's most striking about Gorman's very striking black-and-white images is the landscape: stark and unforgiving, often overwhelming and barely comprehensible. It could be a different planet that's being seen here.
Stephen Gorman, "Inughuit Dogsleds Traveling the Sea Ice, Inglefield Fjord, Greenland," 2017.
© Stephen Gorman, courtesy Anderson Yezerski Gallery
Look again, though, and there are children and a teacher outside their school; two girls sharing a bicycle ride, a pair of dogs frolicking along; a man strolling toward a village alongside a fjord. Dominating one of the most spectacular images are cliffs descending almost sheer down to another fjord. The fjord is iced over, and a closer look reveals the presence of a pair of dogsleds traveling across it.
In Washington, or Copenhagen, Greenland might be thought of as some vast hunk of real estate chockablock with minerals just waiting to be mined once the ice has melted. Gorman reminds us that this forbidding, magnificent land includes people, too.
Bruce McCoy Owens, "Women playing bhuysa."
Bruce McCoy Owens
Bruce McCoy Owens, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Wheaton College, has been photographing in Nepal even longer than Gorman has in the Arctic. Owens first visited Kathmandu in 1977. The sense of connection he feels to Nepalese culture is evident throughout 'The Art of the Festival: Celebrating the Rain God of the Kathmandu Valley.' It runs at the Somerville Museum through March 29.
The festival, which honors a deity known by many names, including Bumgadyah and Rao Matsyendranath, has been held for almost 14 centuries. Owens has been photographing it for four decades. The festival's centerpiece is a chariot for transporting the rain god and its attendants. Weighing 35 tons, this vehicle has a height of 65 feet — on a 10-foot wheelbase. A very real danger of toppling is part of the tradition.
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Owens curated 'The Art of the Festival.' It includes some 60 of his photographs, along with two videos, several statuettes, and other items. The effect is of a vibrant profusion. In a side gallery, there are photographs of Nepalese communities in Boston, Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, and Braintree, which adds to the show's (appropriately) festive feel.
Bruce McCoy Owens, "Priests in chariot."
Bruce McCoy Owens
Owens's photographs are in color and thickly populated with festival-goers. The visual difference from Gorman's work could hardly be greater. It turns out, though, that Greenland and Nepal share a bond: Both face the prospect of running afoul of the current administration in Washington. In addition to that matter of acquiring Greenland, its suspension of foreign aid
Owens will be at the museum on March 1 to discuss the exhibition. The event begins at 11 a.m.
NOT FOR SALE. Photographs of Inuit life in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic by Stephen Gorman
At Anderson Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. A16, through March 22. 617-262-0550,
THE ART OF THE FESTIVAL: Celebrating the Rain God of the Kathmandu Valley
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At Somerville Museum, 1 Westwood Rd., Somerville, through March 29. 617-666-9810, www.somervillemuseum.org
Mark Feeney can be reached at