The Australian National University’s exhibition, Antarctica, at ANU Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra, from 24 May to 1 July 2012, is a contrast of images: from white to dark, ice to snow, pure to contaminated, virgin to discovered, hidden to exposed, inhuman to humane, fear to astonishment, fragile to forceful, humanity’s insignificance to nature’s magnificence, and inhospitable desolation to astounding beauty. A range of artists including Sidney Nolan, Jan Senbergs, Bea Maddock, Jorj Schmeissser, Anne Noble, Philip Hughes and Chris Drury give the vastness of the landscape amazing life. All seven artists have visited Antarctica, from 1964 to 2006, describing it as a crystal desert, a frozen sea, and a melting landscape. The Drill Hall Gallery continues to celebrate the centenary of Douglas Mawson’s scientific expedition of 1911-1914 to the Antarctic and the Antarctic Treaty signed by 12 nations, commencing in July 1961, that the Norwegian delegation declared “might be the
REJECT GREED; TREAD LIGHTLY; CARE LOCALLY; RESPECT DIVERSITY ... by Martina Nicolls