Previous Next

The McMurdo Station Mural

Description:

The McMurdo Station Mural

Xavier Cortada, "Why did you come to Antarctica?", mixed media on canvas, 48" x 96", 2007.

McMurdo Station is the largest of the three year-round US stations in Antarctica. Everyone in the McMurdo Station is with the National Science Foundation flew in to either support or direct working on a science project. During his artist's residency, Cortada created a collaborative "message mural" asking members of the McMurdo community what brought them to Antarctica. Participants wrote their answers on a piece of paper which the artist affixed to his 8-foot long mural. Cortada created the mural on wood using the participants' messages, pastels, acrylic paint diluted with melting sea ice from the Ross Sea, soil samples from the Antarctic Dry Valleys and a giant satellite photo of Ross Island, where McMurdo Station sits.



On January 8, 2007, the collaborative mural was unveiled during a lecture the artist was presenting the McMurdo Library. Cortada presented the mural to McMurdo's National Science Foundation Representative David Bresnahan. The art work is on permanent exhibit in Building 155 at the McMurdo Station.