Gold picture frame sledge at, Vals, Adelaide island, Antarctica.
Photo: Fergal Buckley
I took several boxes of gold picture frames form the UK down to Antarctica on the British Antarctic Survey's ship the James Clark Ross.
'Man' food box with gold picture frames in it being opened at the main British Antarctic Survey base- Rothera, Antarctica. ('Man' food as opposed to 'dog' food box- Even though dogs and therefore 'dog food boxes' don't exisit in Antarctica anymore the old term to differenciate the two types of sledge box is still used). These empty food sledge boxes are handy packaging and often used to transport belongings back wards and forwards to the Antarctic.
photo: David Vaughan
The picture frames were turned into a 12' long Nansen sledge in the carpenters workshop at Rothera Research Station. In this image my very skilled assistant, Fergal Buckley is lashing the components together.
Photo: Ian Potten
The finished sledge was flown 500 miles further south to Sky Blu, a remote B.A.S. refuelling depot that is supplied only by air.
Camping with the sledge literally in the middle of nowhere.
From Sky Blu the sledge took a short trip of a few miles out to the surounding area. Sky Blu is an aircraft refuelling depot; it was built and supplied by air. There is no real reason for anyone to leave the base by land. I made an assumption that theoretically the flat, mostly featureless suroundings, were somewhere not worth visiting - and this was what I was looking for- a spot no one had ever bothered to go to before. The flat white sky against the flat white snow meant the horizon often disapeared. It was like a blank white canvas.
TOP: Man food sledge boxes, food depot at Sky Blu. BOTTOM: Man food box full of Antarctic toys in Antarctica.
As well as taking boxes of gold picture frames to the Antarctic I also collected Antarctic toys. Anything from plastic penguins to the "Action Man Antarctic explorer". As part of my research I was exploring the mythologization of Antarctica. I took these representational, or 'pretend' Antarctic objects to the 'real' Antarctica so that once they had been there they would come back as 'genuine and authentic' Antarctic toys.
The toys were photographed in the Antarctic. Then put back into sledge boxes, loaded onto the ship with all the other Northbound cargo and sent back to the UK.
Each piece of cargo is given a Bill of Lading or 'BOL' before it goes on the ship. This gives details of what is inside including weight , dimensions and a brief description.
The toys were photographed in the Antarctic. Then put back into sledge boxes, loaded onto the ship with all the other Northbound cargo and sent back to the UK.
Each piece of cargo is given a Bill of Lading or 'BOL' before it goes on the ship. This gives details of what is inside including weight , dimensions and a brief description.
Plastic penguin and king penguins on South Goergia. RRS "James Clark Ross" in the background.
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The loaded sledge including boxes of Antarctic toys.
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Two detail shots of the BOL on one of my sledge boxes. These images were taken in the gallery after the BOL had been put into a gold frame.
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The toy and its image in the Antarctic were used together In the final painting in the gallery. The BOL is fixed on the outside of the box.
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The genuine 'been to the Antarctic' plastic penguin. One screw is in its beak as if the penguin is holding it. Another one is through its foot 'really' fixing it to the box.
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The toy's presence in the painting is deliberately paradoxical. It is a fake /artificial object but its presence in an art gallery is due to its authenticity. In this example the penguin holds the 'real' method by which it is connected to the box.
The sledge is displayed in the middle of the art gallery whilst most of the sledge boxes are hung on the wall. 
Sledge and boxes installed in the exhibtion. Photo Matt Bowman
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