Stephen Eastaugh’s latest contribution to the Thesaurus arrived yesterday.
I have sewn and painted a pattern based on the cardinal points of cartography. Antarctica is a place where mapping is still a major element of research. Locating oneself in this white wilderness is highly important and rather tricky. I am fond of maps, always have been and there is indeed a relationship between art and cartography as they both attempt to make meaning of the world or communicate information. The similarities between maps and art revolve around both attempting to give information. Turning the unfamiliar into the familiar. It is presumed that the first scribblings in the dirt by humans were maps.
Unlike cartography which is concerned with location, law and information. I concern myself with dislocation, experimentation, imagined space and mystery. The grid pattern I use is also influenced by Tongan tapa designs. I wanted in some way to make a raw Antarctic art as someone had to do it! There has never been any indigenous people on the Ice, very little art has been made in Antarctica. This work uses cartography and pattern to try to locate myself somewhere somehow.
Stephen Eastaugh, 06/01/2007 10:20 PM
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I have also included some work by the American Naval artist, Standish Backus. He was working as an Antarctic artist at Wilkes, the time that Fred Elliott and Jack Ward were wintering at Mawson:
Returing to active duty, Backus accompanied Admiral Richard Byrd to the Antarctic for four months in 1955-56 to record images of the exploration. Labelled “Operation Deep Freeze”, this expedition did preliminary work for the one in July 1956, which widely explored the Antarctic in commemoration of the Geophysical Year. Backus participated in many phases of the expedition, working under severe conditions. Party members ventured out by means of skis and “old fashioned foot-sloggin,” usually equipped with extra gear and provisions in case an emergency kept them away for an extended period.
Navel Historical Center, April 2001
His image of Mount Erebus will be an interesting one to compare with those of other artists who came before and after him.