New Zealand photographer, Anne Noble will travel to the U.S. Antarctic Program's McMurdo Station in Antarctica to complete a photographic project, "Antarctica: White Lantern." Ms. Noble aspires to achieve a new visual aesthetic of the ice, referencing visual perceptions that contribute contemporary knowledge and understanding of Antarctica while evoking the fragility of both human and visual perception and our relationship to place itself. She is particularly interested in photographing atmospheric phenomena that occurs in higher Antarctic elevations; "locating the search for knowledge of the planet and the evolution of the universe at the heart of a new visual poetic of Antarctic whiteness." The artist notes that her project refutes and challenges popular pictorial landscape conventions, adopting observational methods aligned to science in a study of the aesthetics of atmospheric phenomena.
The result of the Antarctic work will be an exhibition comprised of 30-40 large images, which has already scheduled to show at a number of venues, both nationally and internationally. The second significant component of the project is a book, White Lantern, which will be comprised of 50 or more photographs, adopting a large format with essays co-authored by the artist and an invited writer/curator. The book has a publisher and plans for distribution in the U.S. and abroad. The exemplary quality of the work combined with the significant venues of support is a strong indication of success and with minimal impact and resource investment by the U.S. Antarctic Program. The project is an international collaboration between NSF and Antarctica NZ in keeping with the spirit of International Polar Year.
