Joël Tettamanti’s landscape photos are breathtaking, almost unreal. Tiny colorful houses sit atop snowy mountains, showing both humanity’s impact on the environment and the frailty of civilization.

Tettamanti traveled from Asia to Greenland, showing the relationship of people to the land and questioning the capacity for human development. Ironically, the images are noticeably devoid of people, almost portentously so. It’s as if an environmental apocalypse has wiped out human life, leaving only snowed-over buildings and unpaved roads.

Compass Points will be on view at the MIT Museum through August 31.