A broad slab of glacial ice drifts on the dark water deep in Nuup Kangerlua on an August day, about 25 km up the fjord from Nuuk.

Isle Hessner's weathering-steel sculpture stands by Ilimmarfik, the campus of the University of Greenland (Ilisimatusarfik) in Nuuk, unveiled in 2015. It is called "Hyldest til fangerkonerne" in Danish, which roughly translates to "Tribute to the Hunters' Wives." It honours the wives of Greenland's hunters through the form of the ulu ("ulo" in Greenlandic), the traditional women's knife. Because the ulu takes a different shape on Greenland's east and west coasts, Hessner united both forms in a single work, a symbol of community between the two coasts.

A mural by street artist Cheeky wraps around a concrete wall in Nuuk, a blue-toned face and a mask held by a hand beside the words "Stay True," rendered in her bold, comic-influenced line work. The paired face and mask explore the idea of wearing a mask, and taking it off. Cheeky has described how many Greenlanders, especially young people, feel they must mask themselves and endure prejudice when they move to Denmark. With this artwork she wanted to bring those experiences to a wider audience. Someone has since added "cool" above the original text, so it could now be read as "Stay True, Stay Cool."

Dwarf fireweed, or Niviarsiaq in Greenlandic, is the national flower of Greenland. Here, it is captured on a hot summer Sunday as it blooms across the stony tundra at the foot of Quassussuaq (Danish: Lille Malene), east of Nuuk. Its Greenlandic name means "little girl," and it flowers through the brief Arctic summer, from June to September.

A single lamp holds a pool of light against the dark, the empty boardwalk deck glowing alone at the edge of the Nuuk night.

A bright red Japanese torii gate marks the entrance to the Nuuk Shotokan Karate-Do club, set against bare rock and mountains at Kissarneqqortuunnguaq (Danish: Vandsøvej). The gate nods to the Japanese origins of Shotokan karate, traditionally signalling the passage into a space of discipline and focus.

A boat's foaming wake trails across the still, grey waters of Nuup Kangerlua, some 20 km inland from Nuuk, where steep, snow-streaked mountains rise straight from the fjord under a heavy, overcast summer sky.

Low clouds cling to the granite cliffs of Quassussuaq (Danish: Lille Malene) above the still, green waters of the lake Qallussuaq, known in Danish as Cirkussøen, or "Circus Lake" in English.

A mural of a young woman's face split with a bare skull, framed by branching antlers, painted on a wooden wall of a shed in Nuuk's Nuussuaq district.

A steel tupilak, catching the low evening sun, marks the route to Ajagaq, the municipality's arts workshop, where local artists have carved and shared Greenlandic craft traditions since 2015.

This graffiti painting depicts a steel-and-glass skyline crowding out a small village of colorful traditional houses, both suspended on a loading bar still in progress. Painted in 2020 by Greenlandic artist Inuk Højgaard, the mural speaks to the widening gap between life in Nuuk and in Greenland's smaller communities. Højgaard himself resists calling it a simple critique of the capital's growth.

Traffic moves along the sunlit roads of Eqalugalinnguanut and Issortarfimmut, with the mountain Sermitsiaq to the left and Quassussuaq (Lille Malene) in the middle.

RV Tarajoq is Greenland's flagship fisheries research vessel, operated by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (Pinngortitaleriffik) on behalf of the Government of Greenland. This ice-strengthened vessel is used to survey fish stocks and map the seabed across Arctic waters. The name means "salt" and is an old Inuit word for the sea itself.

Nuuk Art Museum on a sunny June day, flying a rainbow flag. The museum showcases Greenlandic art across generations from soapstone, bone, and ivory carvings to classic paintings and contemporary art.

A thin ribbon of cloud cuts across the mountains of Nuup Kangerlua, splitting jagged, snow-dusted peaks from the dark water of Nuuk's fjord below.

HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen (P571) sits in Nuuk's harbour, a Knud Rasmussen-class Arctic offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Danish Navy, named after the Danish polar explorer. Her ice-strengthened hull can break through ice up to 80cm thick, and alongside her sister ships, she's normally stationed in Greenlandic waters for sovereignty enforcement, fisheries inspection, and search-and-rescue work.

The evening sun bathes Nuuk's Colonial Harbour and old town in golden light on a calm Sunday evening.

A quiet, pebble-and-sand cove at Saqqarliit beach in Nuuk's Rævedalen (Fox Valley) district, with the area's colorful houses scattered along the hillside above.

The start line of a race at Qaannamik Unammersuarneq, Greenland's national kayak championship, on Friday, July 3, in the Nuuk Colonial Harbour.

A waterfall cascades down mist-shrouded granite cliffs into Nuup Kangerlua, Nuuk's fjord, fed by summer runoff from the peaks above.

Ajagaq is an arts handicraft workshop operated by the municipality since 2015. Here local artists carve, sculpt, and share Greenlandic craft traditions. The green front of the house displays two bold tupilak murals.

A carved granite memorial in Nuuk's Colonial Harbour honors Arnarulunnguaq (1896–1933), the only woman to join Knud Rasmussen's Fifth Thule Expedition across the Arctic.