Exploring together in South Patagonia and the Arctic

Karukinka is a non-profit association founded in 2014, dedicated to exploration, scientific research and artistic creation in polar and subpolar regions. Based in Loire-Atlantique (France), it brings together enthusiasts from all backgrounds to conduct expeditions in Patagonia and the Arctic, support Indigenous peoples, and raise awareness about preserving these unique territories.

Through its sailboat Milagro, Karukinka offers its members navigations, research projects and artistic residencies, fostering encounters, engagement and sharing in service of the environment and cultures.

Karukinka’s key words are independence, benevolence and commitment. It brings together members from different universes in order to explore to better understand, document, raise awareness, support, defend and create as much meaning as connections, regardless of distances.

Karukinka: More than a Decade of Commitment to Exploration, Memory and Knowledge of the Southern Worlds

Since 2013, Karukinka has been a unique collective that brings together sailors, scientists, artists, researchers and members of Indigenous communities from Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn province, working together for the preservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage of the Far South.

Originally, the Call of Extreme Lands

Founded by Lauriane Lemasson, Karukinka is rooted in a passion for the southern worlds: the Cape Horn channels, Tierra del Fuego, and that vast network of islands, fjords and wild coasts where the relationship between peoples, environments and historical memory remains alive and fragile. Very quickly, the association affirmed its mission: to bring together exploration, sciences, knowledge transmission and territorial engagement around collaborative and autonomous projects.

Maritime Expeditions and Living World Discoveries

Over the years, Karukinka has conducted a dozen expeditions on foot and by sailboat in the Patagonian channels, the Grande Île of Tierra del Fuego, the Darwin Cordillera, the Beagle Channel, the Wollaston Islands and up to the mythical Cape Horn, embarking scientists, artists, young people in training, members of the Yaghan and Selk’nam peoples. These navigations have enabled:

• The exploration of inaccessible territories and the collection of data on fauna, flora, ecological transformations and Indigenous knowledge;

• The filming of documentaries, sound reports, photographic works;

• The collection of testimonies and oral archives from elders and local memory keepers;

• The accompaniment of scientific missions, notably on biodiversity, the evolution of the subantarctic landscape, and cultural memory.

Research, Ethnology and Language Preservation

Karukinka particularly distinguishes itself through its work on the living transmission of Indigenous languages and cultures, notably through:

• The accompaniment and documentation of the last Yaghan speakers (Cristina Calderón until her death, descendants and communities);

• Collections and recordings of speech, songs, stories;

• The collaborative inventory of oral and intangible heritage with island communities;

• The promotion of traditional craftsmanship, navigation know-how, Indigenous material culture (spears, canoes, traditional clothing, etc.).

Memory, Transmission and Artistic Projects

Karukinka’s activities have always mixed arts and sciences:

• Organization of artistic and scientific residencies aboard the sailboat Milagro and in remote villages;

• Creation of travel logs and photographs;

• Setting up traveling exhibitions and awareness actions in France around the memory of peoples and ecological issues of the Far South;

• Educational workshops, school interventions, conferences, enabling intergenerational knowledge transmission.

Participatory Sciences and International Cooperation

Karukinka has invested in:

• Participatory science missions (marine mammal observation, bird inventory, climate data collection, microplastic studies, etc.);

• Building solid partnerships with institutions like the Center for Biocultural Heritage Studies, UNESCO, French and South American universities;

• Regular exchanges between experts, students, artists and inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.

Ecological Engagement and Solidarity

Karukinka carries a vision of global ecology:

• Preservation of the most fragile environments: fjords, peat bogs, subantarctic forests, threatened coastlines;

• Fight against pollution, climate change awareness, experimentation with sober lifestyles during expeditions;

• Direct logistical support to island inhabitants and Indigenous communities (supply, transport, cultural exchanges).

Openness and Transmission

Finally, Karukinka defends opening its projects to all lovers of the South, whether they come from research, manual trades, creation or simply curiosity. The collective encourages everyone to get involved according to their talents around a transversal approach:

• No project is fixed: each expedition, each residency or field action is enriched by the contributions of its members and partners;

• The emphasis is on permanent learning, humility, solidarity and the joy of learning together in some of the most beautiful and isolated lands in the world.

Founding Ideas and Karukinka Vision

• Mix sciences, art and field action to bring out new narratives and preserve those that are threatened;

• Rely on the expertise and experience of inhabitants, oral memory, collective experimentation;

• Pool means, transportation (the sailboat) and networks to make exploration possible, even where everything seems to stop it;

• Connect shores and worlds (sailors, scientists, natives, artists, young people), in order to build bridges between past and future in the heart of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego;

• Always place equity, commitment and conviviality at the heart of actions.

In more than ten years, Karukinka has managed to weave a network, document, explore and connect the islands and cultures of the Far South, carrying high a humanist, independent and deeply ethical approach for the southern worlds.

To join Karukinka, discover expeditions, artistic projects, documentary resources, photo and video gallery, visit karukinka.eu.

Departed from Saint Nazaire, the sailboat Milagro and its crew are now in Tierra del Fuego and Chilean fjords, after a sailing navigation of more than 13,000nm to Cape Horn, Chilean fjords and Tierra del Fuego.

On the program from 2025 to 2030, several sailingexpeditions in Patagonia in all seasons mixing sailing navigations, research and hiking, with Damien Treutenaere (Captain 200 Merchant Marine and State Sailing Certificate), José German González Calderón (Yaghan fisherman and craftsman) and Lauriane Lemasson (founder, second and scientist).

To discover the Milagro vessel, a 20m ketch sailboat and floating base camp for our committed and friendly projects, visit here.

Joining the adventure aboard, even without a particular project and as a beginner, means participating in the realization of equitable projects of scientific research and artistic creations having a social impact at the antipodes of our planet.

A long sailboat expedition