Eve Kahn shared these amazing pictures from the Awe of the Arctic exhibition currently showing at the New York Public Library (until July 13, 2024)
“Nutjuitok (Polar Star) After Matthew Henson 1866 is a series of photographic works that Terry Adkins dedicated to the African American explorer Matthew Henson. Henson accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic, including the American explorer’s last and most famous expedition in 1908-09, on which Peary claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole. Henson was only recognized much later in his life for his many contributions to these expeditions. In the photograph Qikiqtaaluk (the Inuktitut name for Baffin Island), a historical map of the Arctic is shown on Adkins’s skin, which has been whitened for the projection. He wears polar bear fur pants and brown fur mittens- two crucial items for surviving in the Arctic and in his hands, he holds large gemstones, a reference to the natural resources explorers sought to extract from the landscape. By embodying the spirit of Henson and the region in this self-portrait, Adkins directly addresses historical relationships to race, capitalism, and imperialism.”Nutjuitok (Polar Star) After Matthew Henson 1866 is a series of photographic works that Terry Adkins dedicated to the African American explorer Matthew Henson. Henson accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic, including the American explorer’s last and most famous expedition in 1908-09, on which Peary claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole. Henson was only recognized much later in his life for his many contributions to these expeditions. In the photograph Qikiqtaaluk (the Inuktitut name for Baffin Island), a historical map of the Arctic is shown on Adkins’s skin, which has been whitened for the projection. He wears polar bear fur pants and brown fur mittens- two crucial items for surviving in the Arctic and in his hands, he holds large gemstones, a reference to the natural resources explorers sought to extract from the landscape. By embodying the spirit of Henson and the region in this self-portrait, Adkins directly addresses historical relationships to race, capitalism, and imperialism.”
