No Man's Land (2014)
I participated in the Arctic Circle Autumn Art and Science Expedition, which ran from October 2nd to October 20th, 2014. This is an international residency program administered by The Farm, Inc. from New York State, which is held every year in Svalbard, Norway, a mountainous Arctic archipelago just 1200 km from the North Pole. It takes place aboard a traditionally rigged 3-masted barquentine that sails in and out of fjords along the coast and allows for shore trips to make work in one of the most wondrous and forbidding environments in the world. There are generally 20 to 28 participants on each voyage, including artists of all disciplines, architects, educators, and scientists. I decided to make work that fed off of the alien landscape and tapped into the physical and psychological isolation that is palpable in the region. Accompanied by sculptural objects and a custom-made light-reflective suit, a narrative of sorts took shape. The resulting images explore aspects of life somewhere near the end: resignation, curiosity, boredom, hope, wonder and despair.