My preocupation with displacement started in 1998 with an accidental encounter in Valencia with a young man who did not define himself as a “refugee”, but had been forcibly displaced from his homeland. Since then, I have explored these drifting narratives, attempting to understand the situations that force individuals to make the overwhelming decision to confront their own condition. This includes those who have been pushed away from their homeland, and those who wish to move but are unable due to physical, economic, social or political reasons.


In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun is the second part in the trilogy Drifting Narratives. In this new project, my interest has expanded to question how global warming and ecological factors are causing migration and displacement. The Arctic region brings together diverse narratives which intertwine around the problem we all face of a rapidly changing environment.


My methodology is based on a collaborative approach, taking time to understand the context and background of those involved in the story. In this way, In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun requires an understanding of, and respect for, the different groups of people whose lives interweave in the Arctic. I am interested in these contrasting lives that are found in the region of Norbotten/Sápmi where multiple voices come together to question their identity and connection to the land that sustains them.


Through narratives of political, environmental and internal displacement, In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun questions and investigates what it means to be human in the 21st century.
Juan delGado