Narelle Autio (Australia, 1969) won the Leica Oscar Barnack Award in 2002, with her series 'Coastal Dwellers'. The series pictures the relationship of the Australians with the beaches in theior surroundinds, partly photographed in an almost surreal manner under water. Living next to the beach herself - as 99% of Australians do - she experiences the ocean as a continuous source of energy.

The images by Ken Schles (USA, 1960) were made in the spring of 2003 in Groningen, in the context of a photography commission handed to him by Noorderlicht. Schles photographed people in public space, on their way between the primary functions of a city: living, working, shopping.

His series titled 'An Absence in the Presence of Things' will be shown in the exhibition Land of Promise, together with photographs by Adriënne van Eekelen, Antoine d'Agata, Anders Petersen and John Davies. The exhibition is an overview of the Noorderlicht commissions that were given between 2001 and 2003.