SOLITUDE
In the wake of Willem Barentsz
In April 2013 Jeroen Toirkens and Petra Sjouwerman travelled by car, boat, bus and snowmobile across the Barents region, the last remaining wilderness in Europe. They partly followed the so-called Barents-road, which just like the region, is named after the 16th century Dutch polar explorer Willem Barentsz.
They started this extraordinary journey of nearly 3.000 kilometres in Bodø (Norway) and ended in Murmansk (Russia). Sometimes they felt overwhelmed by the infinite emptiness and silence, and elated by the feeling of being alone in the world. Other times they were troubled by the rough, cold and desolate landscape. But again and again the people they encountered on the way surprised them with their openness and hospitality. The journey brought them into contact with Finnish tango fans, brave elderly women in a forgotten Russian village and ‘the king of Lapland’.
Toirkens and Sjouwerman relate their personal experiences to excerpts from the historic diary of one of the crew members of Willem Barentsz. Themes from this 400-year old diary, like loneliness, hardship, courage and friendship, still play an essential role in this remote area today.
Photos: Jeroen Toirkens
Texts: Petra Sjouwerman, Diederik Veerman
Book: SOLITUDE in the wake of Willem Barentsz (Lannoo, 2013)
Map of the Barents road
‘We wanted to build a sturdy house to protect us from the cold and from wild animals. There were no trees growing there, so we were happy with that mountain of driftwood. There were whole trees, roots and all, which had drifted here from Tartary or Muscovy.’
~ 11 september 1596, Gerrit de Veer
‘Beautiful clear weather with a north wind. We went outside to get some movement into our stiff limbs. We walked, threw and ran, so that the long time spent sitting still would not paralyse us. In the afternoon we saw a red glow on the horizon, like a harbinger of the returning sun.’
~ 16 january 1597, Gerrit de Veer
‘We greatly appreciated the company of the Russians. Since we had separated from Jan Cornelisz thirteen months before, we had not seen any other human beings, but only tearing, wild, brutal bears. We were now filled with courage and said to one another: all will be well, now that we have found humans. We thanked God for His grace, and for letting us live all this time.’
~ 28 july 1597, Gerrit de Veer
‘At any rate, we felt that our ordeal was at an end, because Kola, the place that before seemed so far and so unknown, as if it was at the end of the world, now felt like home.’
~ 2 september 1597, Gerrit de Veer