It has been one month since the Russian ship left myself and the other 15 humans I share the isolated village of Mawson station with.
Everyone is kept busy with preparations for winter and I work away in the studio.
Today its -12 C and there is a 40 knot wind so it is a usual March day. We watch the sea turn to grease ice then pancake ice and soon it will become solid increasing the size of this white continent to 30 million sq. kms rather than a mere 14 Million sq. kms.
Then in mid-winter it will get dark for an entire month.
It is a large and extremely strange place.
I work in a science building called “Wombat” on a series of small painterly studies of Nunataks (the top pointy bits of mountains mostly concealed by the massive icecap) as well as large mixed media sewn works that abstract this odd place into pattern.
I also read a few books.
The geographer Yi-Fu Tuan tells me- “ geography is mostly about how we strive to feel at home on earth, rooted in place… the arts too can be a home or make us feel more at home, yet even more than geographical place, they have the power to disturb or exalt and so like great teachers of religion, remind us that we are fundamentally homeless.”
Of course I am in a homeless place down this far south and my nomadic ways have lead me here to this stunningly brutal place.
My passion for art and my addiction to wanderlust the past 25 years have landed me here in a location where it is not too difficult to walk out the door and perish.
This is true anywhere really but those monster katabatic blizzards, zero vegetation for food or shelter and sub zero temperatures all increase the chances of finding yourself rapidly very still indeed.
I realize that ‘home’ is a fine concept but I agree with Mr Tuan that eventually we all wander through life and head off on that extremely mysterious journey called death.
I sound sombre and grave but let me also mention that I have seen gaudy orange-red sunsets more tropical than in the tropics, beautiful ice flowers etched into melt lakes, a full moon over the bright blue icecap, the eerie aurora night dance between the suns plasma and the earths magnetic field, an iceberg 45 kilometres long and loads of penguins all as cute as buttons.
I have attached images of my studio, some artwork and other shots for your amusement.
Regards and cheers
Stephen www.stepheneastaugh.com.au