The Antarctic Arts Fellowship is open to creatives of any discipline. Explore Antarctica’s beautiful, frozen frontiers and communicate your adventures in the medium of your choice! Audio-visual artist Polly Stanton is producing an artistic response at Casey Station. This research base is Australia’s largest in Antarctica. Inspired by the region’s history as well as her own experiences and explorations, she intends to develop a new large-scale multimedia work reflecting her findings.
Based at Casey Station, Stanton is recording moving images, including footage of the station’s generator and incinerator in operation. Her current scholarly interests are in “contested spaces” that examine where and how human culture interacts with the natural world. This approach is typical of the fellowship’s purpose to promote a greater understanding of Antarctica through artistic creation.
A Legacy of Artistic Exploration
Annalise Rees, another Antarctic Arts Fellow, is in the process of her own work right now at Casey Station. Here, she looks back on what kind of change these artistic initiatives have made.
“We’ve had performance works, sound works, there’s been a lot of visual arts, writing, literature, books published,” – Annalise Rees
Beyond being eye candy, Rees emphasizes that art plays a critical role in connecting those who have yet to experience Antarctica first hand. The park service, she finds, is so important in establishing a gateway and a bridge to the human experience in this wild, distant place.
“Art, I think, plays an important role in building connection because it both intellectually and emotionally connects us to something that we may not directly have experienced,” – Annalise Rees
The experience has already sent 84 artists on transformative journeys to Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations. Just as many have signed on to thrilling adventures aboard the national icebreaker. In 2011, Alice Giles had become a leading light of the artist’s exploration. She deepens this legacy by providing something beyond a simple archive of the land.
The Artists’ Perspectives
Creator Polly Stanton talks about how deeply her environment influences her work.
“I think what’s really struck me being here is just how immense it is and almost how it is so incredibly dreamlike,” – Polly Stanton
These environmental changes fascinate—perhaps even inspire—a curiosity in Stanton. It is her hope that through her work, Australia’s Antarctic region will be seen as a meeting place of humanity and nature.
Leila Jeffreys is known for her incredible avian photography and for her work as an “artist activist.” Along with that, she’s just begun to explore the sublime Antarctic scenery. As part of her even-wilder, ongoing documentary project on travel infrastructure, she’s recently shot the abandoned Wilkes Station, crammed with debris from the 1960s. Jeffreys is currently working on a book chronicling her adventures in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic. Her mission is to educate people on the environmental crises that are endangering these fragile ecosystems.
“Once your heart connects to the beauty of these incredible beings that we live amongst, then you can’t help but just love them to bits and want to do the right things for them,” – Leila Jeffreys
The Call for Creativity
Expressions of interest for the Antarctic Arts Fellowship are now open, with applications due by January’s end. This unique program has consistently drawn a dynamic mix of artists—which include poets, writers, dancers and visual artists—excited to convey their interpretations of the unique Antarctic environment.
The fellowship helps develop amazing artistic talent, but it aims to foster greater public appreciation for this far-flung landscape. Rees and other Fellows share their projects through public exhibitions across Australia and overseas. They show us how artistic representation teaches everyone else that would never have the opportunity to visit Antarctica.
“I understand why it really affects people,” – Polly Stanton
