Chapter 4: Svalbard 80º N
I was diagnosed with COVID-19 five hours after setting sail on an expedition boat in the Svalbard Archipelago in May 2022. I was immediately sentenced to quarantine in a 10' x 20' cabin for seven nights. Sick and at a loss, I stared out the window for hours watching polar bear footprints recede into the horizon, a walrus emerge in the wake, and geography lacking name or direction unveil itself before me.
In October 2022, I returned as an Arctic Circle Artist in Residence, spending two weeks on a barquentine sailing vessel breathing the outside air that I was denied five months earlier. I quickly realized the ladder to reach the zodiacs was outside my cabin porthole and I photographed my shipmates as they descended, paused and departed for land.
By focusing on the salty and icy glass, I intentionally referenced the deteriorating negatives from 19th century polar expeditions, those where the elements marred the film before development or the slow exposures blurred the subjects. This obstruction does not hide the frustration nor the anticipation of pandemic and environmental loss, marking every nautical mile traveled.
