Clanet, Céline. Máze. Photographs by Céline Clanet.

Photolucida, 2009. Illustrated boards, issued without dust jacket.  Afterword by Awen Jones. Like new with custom made 4-mil polyester jacket. Photographs in color by Clanet from 2005 to 2009 of the Sáme people, Laplanders in the Máze region of Lapland in northern Norway. Summary:

Máze (2010) is an evocative photographic monograph by French photographer Céline Clanet. The book is an intimate portrait of a tiny, isolated Sámi village of the same name (also spelled Máze or Masi), located in the Norwegian part of Lapland, high above the Arctic Circle.

Core Themes and Content

• The "Secret" Village: Clanet spent five years (2005–2009) traveling to this remote community. Máze is historically significant because it was nearly submerged by a proposed hydroelectric dam in the 1970s—a project halted by fierce Sámi resistance. The book captures the quiet resilience of a place that "should not have existed."

• Quiet Daily Life: Eschewing ethnographic clichés of colorful folklore, Clanet focuses on the mundane and the atmospheric. Her images depict the interiors of modest homes, snowy landscapes, and the subtle integration of modern technology (snowmobiles, electronics) with traditional reindeer herding culture.

• The Aesthetics of Cold: The photography is characterized by a soft, ethereal palette. Clanet utilizes the unique "blue light" of the Arctic winter and the pale sun of the summer to create a sense of stillness and geographical isolation.

Artistic Significance

The book is highly regarded for its minimalist documentary style. Clanet does not approach the Sámi as an outsider looking for "exoticism," but as a guest observing the slow rhythm of a community bound by blood, history, and a harsh environment.

Born in Chambéry, France, in 1977, Céline Clanet is a French documentary photographer renowned for her quiet, contemplative investigations into remote territories, secretive places, and the relationship between humans and their environments. She graduated with honors from the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles in 1999 before establishing a Paris-based career balancing long-term personal projects with editorial commissions for publications like The New York Times and Le Monde. Clanet gained international acclaim for her long-term work in the European Arctic, particularly her celebrated series Máze (2010), which documented everyday life in a remote Sámi village in Norwegian Lapland and earned the Critical Mass Book Award. Her extensive body of work—including monographs such as Les Chapieux (2014) and Kola (2018)—explores secluded high-altitude and polar regions, and her photographs are held in major public collections including the Portland Art Museum and the Société Française de Photographie.