Paco Arango, Engineering Student in Oceanography and Hydrography

The Argonauts is a project that follows a team of scientists aboard the oceanographic vessel L’Atalante during an expedition in the Mediterranean in summer 2024.Pavy’s solo presentation, Beneath the Surface is part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition at Somerset House, London, 17 April to 5 May.All photographs: Juliette Pavy

Laure Chirurgien, Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques Engineer at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology

With an estimated 229,000 tonnes of plastic waste entering the Mediterranean every year – making it one of the world’s most polluted seas – the scientists’ mission extends beyond documentation. Like modern-day argonauts, they seek to raise awareness, inspire action, and promote solutions

Assistant Cook Christophe Vaillant

A real microcosm of a city is re-created on L’Atalante: there is a restaurant with waiters, a gym, and even a temporary shop, helping to foster a sense of community

A Break in the Sun

Scientists enjoy the sunshine on the ship’s foredeck between watches. They rarely get a day off

Plankton Net

This plankton net is equipped with three different meshes, enabling zooplankton to be collected from the water to a depth of 200m. These are analysed using imaging and new genomic methods, such as the analysis of environmental DNA

Aurore Molé, Research Engineer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research

Molé puts on her survival suit following a safety briefing. This is a compulsory procedure so crews know how to react in an emergency

Sailor Manon Muret

Muret is responsible for launching the ‘rosette’. A large pole called a gaff is used to keep it upright in strong winds. The scientists also provide spare equipment in case of breakage due to storms or other factors

Notes from a Scientist

Most of the scientists on board have not had a day off: it’s seven days a week, 24 hours a day. ‘With The Argonauts,’ says Pavy, ‘I allowed myself more creative freedom, stepping aside from traditional photojournalism. Experimenting with fiction while remaining rooted in reality opened up new ways to tell stories’

Iqaluit, Nunavut (Under the Arctic Ice, Mercury)

In her second long-term project Under the Arctic Ice, Mercury, Pavy sheds light on the realities of indigenous peoples’ prolonged exposure to high mercury levels across the Arctic regions of Greenland and Nunavut. Iqaluit (‘the place with many fish’ in Inuktitut), has approximately 8,000 inhabitants

Dinos Tikivik, Ice Floe Near Iqaluit

This former ranger practices seal hunting at the ‘floe edge’ (where open water meets the ice floe) for sustenance. He places great importance on passing down this culture. ‘We are the eyes and ears of the north’, he says. Tikivik also conducts workshops for young Inuit to impart traditional skills: igloo building, hunting techniques, and the Inuktitut language

Caribou Meat, Iqaluit

With mercury levels in the Arctic increasing tenfold since the industrial revolution and the combined impact of global warming, methylmercury is now spreading into the food chain. Locals here are cutting up a caribou. They will sell the meat directly to other residents. Caribou is the most commonly consumed traditional meat by the Inuit in northern Canada and is less exposed to mercury than seal meat

Zipporah Brings Back a Lake Trout, Iqaluit

Pavy captures the efforts of doctors, scientists and local communities facing this public health challenge first-hand. Lake trout, the northernmost freshwater species, is an important resource for the people of the north. Sadly, it is also the second-largest source of mercury exposure for the Inuit (8.4%), after seals

Starfish, Iqaluit

The starfish is one of the first links in the food chain. Mercury contamination occurs when it scratches sediments

Hunting on the Ice Floe, Nunavut

The hunters spend long hours on the ice floe waiting for slack tide, the period between two tides when there is little current. This is when the seals regularly come out of the water. The Inuit do not eat the oldest seals. ‘We leave them for the dogs because they taste bad due to accumulated mercury’, one of the hunters says

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

In Greenland, hunting and fishing account for 10% of jobs and are an important resource for the territory’s economy. They also account for 25% of the territory’s GDP

Nunavut: ‘Our Land’ in Inuktitut

The highest per capita mercury levels on the planet are among the Inuit of Canada and Greenland