Antarctic Ice Paintings

Xavier Cortada, “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines I A-01: Antarctica,”  12” x 9”, Antarctic ice, sediment from Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys and mixed media on paper, 2007.

Xavier Cortada, recipient of a 2006-2007 National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers fellowship, traveled to Antarctica to implement a series of projects and installations. While there, the Miami artist created “ice paintings” using glacier and sediment samples provided to him by scientists working in Antarctica. The artist titled the works on paper by randomly selecting the names of geographic features from a map of the continent that inspired their creation.

The “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines” series was to be exhibited at the Hyatt Regency in Miami during the CIES 2020 Annual Conference. Due to COVID-19, the exhibition was forced to move online. Click below for full gallery.