Chapter 1: The Arctic Circle & Antarctica, 2017 - 2022

As an artist with a longstanding interest in edges, borders, and topographical extremes, I have explored the impacts of human-accelerated climate change in the polar regions since 2017. In the first chapter, Metaphorical Antipodes: The Arctic Circle and Antarctica, I sculpted plasticine icebergs based on calving glaciers in Ilulissat, Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula. They were formed into silicone molds, filled with water, frozen, and photographed on the imagery that inspired them. The molds were cast into glass, a fragile medium that mirrors the ephemerality of the ice.  

I sent postcards from the northern and southernmost post offices on earth to 50 people. I brought globes to photograph as close to the poles as I could travel and later froze them in the backyard in Indiana. I collected water samples from the Arctic and Southern Oceans and like any reasonable human being, polar plunged in both locations. I created a food-safe silicone mold of A-68, a tabular iceberg that calved from the Larson-C ice shelf in Antarctica in July 2017 and served it in glasses at an opening reception. All of this explores opposites and extremes in location, attitude, and knowledge, showing how “here” effects “there” and “there” impacts everywhere.

My process is dependent upon the weather and its unpredictability is one of many causes for concern. I fabricate landscapes as if these actions will be the only versions left once the icecaps are gone. There is a sense of urgency in documenting the disappearances of places in peril as this affects everyone, despite our political, geographical, and cultural differences.