Long View Study No. 21 (Cape Royds)
July 9, 2012
My latest Long View study takes Ernest Shackleton’s Cape Royds hut for its subject. Royds was home base to the Nimrod Expedition of 1907-09, the first party ever to reach the South Magnetic Pole and the summit of Mt. Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano. From Royds Shackleton also launched his 1908 attempt for the South Geographic Pole which, while unsuccessful, set a new record for human proximity to the bottom of the Earth.
Cape Royds was also where the Nimrod team printed and bound Aurora Australis, the first book edition ever published in Antarctica. Created under harsh conditions over a dark austral winter, the effort marked a notable confluence of art, science, and literature.
Long View Study No. 21 references the materials and aesthetic shared by book and hut, and Shackleton’s resourcefulness in realizing both projects. Learn more about Cape Royds and my artwork on my latest blog post at the California Academy of Sciences site.