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In the far northeastern corner of Alaska, a pristine wilderness known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pulses with life, even in the depths of a white subzero winter.

(Photo by Subhankar Banerjee)

Until recently, most images of this ecosystem were captured only during the brief summer seasons when weather conditions permitted more comfortable photography—leaving many to imagine the area as largely frozen, barren and lifeless during the rest of the year. However, physicist-turned-photographer Subhankar Banerjee has shattered any such assumptions by recording four seasons of life in the refuge with a series of photographs.

An exhibit of these photos, sponsored by the U-M Health System's Gifts of Art program, entitled "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land" currently is mounted in the south lobby of the Taubman Center through Feb. 9.

In early 2000, Banerjee left his job at Boeing, raided his savings, and began a two-year photographic journey of the region, enduring blizzards, bitter cold and a trek that totaled 4,000 miles to capture polar bears, musk oxen, the rare buff-breasted sandpiper and dozens of other species that thrive in the refuge throughout the year.