Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice)
2009
Suite of 8 digital pigment prints housed in an embossed handmade portfolio box
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 1 (Early Sea Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Early Sea Ice volume depicts the Southern Ocean beginning to freeze at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf. These images mark the moment in Antarctica’s seasonal change between the waning austral summer and the quickly approaching autumn. The sea portrayed here froze overnight, beginning its yearly transition back to the thick ice that encompasses the continent in winter. As the temperature of the ocean begins to drop, the surface water, which has less salinity, freezes first. Since the ocean is never still, the newly forming ice knocks about gently on the surface waves, bumping into other bits of forming ice. The persistence of the motion means that the ice plates are always colliding into one another, eroding each other’s edges. This results in their round shape, called pancake ice. By winter, the sea ice where these images were taken would be around five feet thick.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice)
2009
Suite of 8 digital pigment prints housed in an embossed handmade portfolio box
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 2 (Land Ice):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″
Description: The Land Ice volume depicts various formations of surface ice that occur on the continent of Antarctica as a result of the incredible force of the wind. Catabatic winds, as they are called, blow out from the large, elevated ice sheets toward the sea. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets, combined with high elevation brings enormous gravitational energy, which propels the winds to incredible speed, sometimes surpassing even hurricane force. The catabatic winds carve a deep incurvation at the base of the nunataks (rock mountains) as they blow around them, forming ice walls that are upwards of fifty feet high. Like a moat, the wind scoops surround these majestic rock castles, leaving a frozen lake at the bottom in hues of the lightest blues, and rippled like the surface of water. These images were taken inside the wind scoop at the base of Vesleskarvet, a nunatak at the northeastern edge of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. They portray the rippling and bubbling of the frozen lake on the floor of the wind scoop, as well as the wind’s carving of the surface of the towering ice walls.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons)
2009
Suite of 8 digital pigment prints housed in an embossed handmade portfolio box
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Antarctica Vol. 3 (Ice Horizons):
2009
Edition of 20
Paper size: 22″ x 17″ each; Image size: 13.5″ x 9″ each
Description: The Ice Horizons volume portrays the brilliant color phenomena that occur when sunlight interacts with the vast Antarctic ice fields. These images depict the fields of ice on the northeastern periphery of the Ahlmann Ridge Range in the Queen Maud Land area of Antarctica. This immense body of ice, which extends toward the edge of the horizon in every direction, can be thousands of feet thick. With ice particulate blowing constantly in the wind across the snow and ice-covered ground, virtually everything in this landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light. Antarctica literally holds light within it. As sunlight moves slowly throughout the environment here, it shimmers across and beneath the ice and snow, illuminating the horizon with vibrant color combinations.
Untitled (16 February 2009, 17:54:11 GMT)
2009
Archival pigment print
40″ x 60″
Edition of 3
Untitled (30 January 2009, 16:51:41 GMT)
2009
Archival pigment print
40″ x 60″
Edition of 3
The Polar Project:
During my two-month artist-in-residence at the McDonald Observatory in 2004, my artistic direction took a radical turn. Night after night, looking up at the universe through the intensely dark and unpolluted sky, I considered how few people around the world have the opportunity to look up and see the stars, planets and constellations so clearly and be witness to their profound beauty. These thoughts led me to reflect on the historical versus contemporary relationship between our natural environment and our civilization. While our technologies have, stunningly, allowed us to see into the microcosm of our bodies and the macrocosm of our universe, we are facing a moment where our technologies are also aiding in certain destabilizing effects to our earth, our water and our air.
From these late nights under the stars in 2004, The Polar Project sprung into being. The project is an evolving series of large scale, environment-focused artworks that document the Arctic and Antarctica. Though seemingly far away, these rare and fragile ecosystems are crucial to Earth’s stability and humanity’s future. Continued anthropogenic climate disruption and glacial melting would bring unprecedented challenges to all of humanity. With leading scientists around the world continuing to warn of the effects of climate disruption, we are now seeing these effects with our own eyes as more and more of the ice in these regions melts away. The Polar Project‘s intent is to share a visceral experience of the polar environment and become a conduit for people to learn about the global and local issues of climate disruption.
I was honored to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for this project in 2008. During my fellowship year, I was invited to join an expedition to Antarctica to work on the project. In January 2009, as the artist-in-residence and official team member of Interpolar Transnational Art Science Constellation and the ICEPAC experiment, and the guest of the South African National Antarctic Program, I ventured to earth’s southernmost continent and lived amidst the vast ice fields, luminous glaciers, ancient rock-mountains, and the ice-covered sea. Antarctica brought a world before my eyes that was luminous and profound. Virtually everything in this icy landscape is a refracting surface, waiting to scatter and bend light… Antarctica literally holds light within it.
The point at which the wonder of natural phenomena begins to awaken the mind, heart and imagination is the point at which art, science and humanity meet, and The Polar Project’s vision is to harmonize these perspectives. I believe that the Arctic and Antarctica are a part of our cultural and world heritage, and The Polar Project’s mission is to capture the natural environment of these precious regions to preserve their image and voice for future generations and to inspire awareness and change now.
—Erika Blumenfeld
