ice woman

ross ice shelf, antarctica
2007

















Through a series of previous writings and one-on-one conversations with Korean artist Kimsooja, I explored the implications of mimicking, re-doing with attentive embodied awareness, art performances within my own experience. This project culminates that work, subtly referencing Kimsooja’s work, Needle Woman, within my skin and my experience.  Rather than occurring in an urban populated area, this performance occurs on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

The Ross Island ice shelf is an expanse of permanently frozen ocean; 40 meters of packed snow and ice floats on 120 meters of ocean water.

The air, perfectly still. I chose a spot where a simple perfectly straight line divided the snow from the sky. A silence unlike any silence found in inhabited places, hung in the cold afternoon air. Perfectly still, I remained there. Camera rolling my body pieces together the expansive silent sky and the lifeless frozen tundra.