A Million Faces of Ice is a study of the Antarctica sastrugi, the features left on the ice by the continent's fierce winds. These images were captured during an 82 days expedition over 4200 kilometers on skis and kites between November 2011 and January 2012
A Million Faces of Ice
These images feature studies from my last trip across the ice. I spend 82 days crossing 4200 kilometers of the Antarctica continent between November 2011 and February 2012. Antarctica is the least explored continent. 98% of it is covered with ice, and most of it is lifeless. To commemorate the centennial of the South Pole, I chose to open a new route linking the east coast to the west coast via two of its poles: the pole of inaccessibility and the south pole. This was done without assistance, on skis and kites. With nothing but sky and ice for so many weeks, at an average elevation of 12,000 feet, the monotony of the landscape can appear underwhelming. The temperatures never reached above minus 35F degrees which is a challenging on the equipment. Although given today's technological convenience, I could never lose sight of Robert Falcon Scott or Frank Hurley's photographic extraordinary feats of accomplishments during the heroic age of exploration. They were my inspiration.
Deep in the heart of the continent, it is the variations in cloud cover or the details of the terrain that provide Antarctica's unique photographic opportunity. The only visible features are ones left by the wind on the ice, and the clouds in the sky. Sastrugi is the name used to describe the shapes sculpted on the ice by wind erosion. The katabatic winds, indigenous to ice caps, can reach speeds exceeding one hundred miles per hour on Antarctica. It is those winds, combined with very little precipitation, that define the Antarctica landscape. The sun’s low angle combined with a striped down color spectrum creates monochromatic displays of hard cold light and shadows. High on the plateau, the sastrugi will occasionally take on systematic patterns aligned with the dominant winds.
These abstract organic shapes, reminiscent of paintings or graphic art, all but blur the gap between natural and human art. Ethereal and stark forms are etched in the ice or painted on the ground. Who is imitating whom? The two are in fact profoundly symbiotic: these images remind us of a human spirit in the deepest and most desolate areas of Antarctica, places which had, until mine, never seen a human footprint.
The images are titled according to their latitude and longitudinal coordinates.