The Antarctica: Before It's Too Late
THE ANTARCTICA: Before It's Too Late
In 2007, I wanted to create a permanent record of what, scientifically, we know is disappearing as a result of global warming. But as I contemplated the progression of what had been there to the way it looked now, and tried to imagine what it might become, the journey became a scientific fantasy.
To get to Antarctica, we traveled to the southernmost point in South America, Ushuaia, Argentina and then sailed for two days, crossing the Drake Passage, called one of the roughest seas in the world. We finally arrived in a world filled with wedded seals, chinstrap and gentoo penguins. What I attempted to find out was how this landscape was changing from what it had been before. Was I sensing the ghosts of two million slaughtered whales? Was I seeing so little snow? Were the images composited from the depths of my photographic memories? In these photographs, land meets fantasy in images that are both a representation of a changing landscape; and a dreamscape of a world that may soon be available to viewers only though photographs. I also grappled with human culpability - did my own visit to this stunning snow-capped world shorten the length of time it will exist, and how does one glance the desire to view something personally with the hope to see it?
With these images, I hope to lead the viewer to a greater understanding of Antarctica's delicate balance between life and death, as well as the beauty, sadness and loneliness that make Antarctica a truly unique place.