'Everyone is a visitor in the Antarctic: no one belongs. One or two secretive lichens aside, there is no life away from the ocean; too far straying from the life support of the sea and all animal life perishes. Nature makes it abundantly plain that this is no place for humankind, and that our presence on the sterile frozen continent is a temporary pass, as unwelcome and inappropriate as on the moon.'
This outstanding collection of photographs from one of New Zealand's most pre-eminent artists, Grahame Sydney, pays homage to the Antarctic landscape.
At the invitation of Antarctica New Zealand, Sydney travelled to Antarctica in November-December 2003, and again in October 2006. His photographs reveal an extraordinary terrain that is solemn, sparse and poised with a magnificent stillness. Exploring a continent that appears at first glance to be devoid of colour, warmth or comfort, each image celebrates the rare flashes of astonishing beauty that can be found in the bleakest, most inhospitable region of Earth.
