Julia Mejnertsen, Shadow Fleet

Shadow Fleet

Julia Mejnertsen

Publisher
Kult Books
Year
2026
ISBN
978-91-990235-4-0
Specifications
Unbound, offset-printed book
24 x 33 cm
80 pages
38 photographs
Texts by Michelle Wiese Bockmann and Jakob Kjøgx Bohr
First edition of 500 copies
Designed by Janne Riikonen and Júlia Ángyán

Shadow Fleet examines the Russian shadow fleet—the oil tankers passing through European waters carrying sanctioned Russian oil. The shadow fleet is both visible and invisible. The ships can be seen from the shore, yet their purpose, ownership, and routes are often obscured. Denmark's position as the gateway to the Baltic Sea makes this passage one of the world's most monitored maritime corridors and a crucial artery for Russian oil exports. In the narrow waterways of the Øresund Strait, global trade and geopolitics come into close view from the Danish coast. Although these waters are Danish territory, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea grants vessels the right of innocent passage. Danish photographer Julia Mejnertsen created this logbook of passing ships, in which oil tankers become part of a wider story of sanctions, hybrid warfare, and international trade. The vessels appear both as concrete objects and symbolic figures within a contemporary geopolitical landscape.

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