News Release — February 15, 2019

Melting Arctic Subject of Art Installation and Talk at SXSW

What: Award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Louie Palu will install a series of photographs frozen in large ice blocks. The melting ice blocks will gradually reveal photographs shot around the Arctic.

When: Tuesday, March 12, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Where: Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, 300 W. 21st Street.

Media: The ice blocks will be outside beginning at 10 a.m. A related conversation at 4 p.m. examines the installation and our understanding of the Arctic through photography. The events are free and open to the public. Doors open 30 minutes in advance for the 4 p.m. conversation.

Background: "Arctic Passage," presented in partnership with SXSW, explores the evolving geopolitics of the Polar region, the history of the Arctic, its connection to the Franklin Expedition and climate change.

Palu shot photographs in the high Arctic over three years while on assignment for National Geographic. Many of the photographs are from some of the most inaccessible locations on the planet.

Palu will speak about the context of his installation and his experience photographing in the Arctic. Jessica S. McDonald, the Ransom Center's Nancy Inman and Marlene Nathan Meyerson Curator of Photography, will discuss the aesthetic, conceptual and editorial impacts of the work with artist Palu and Sadie Quarrier, senior photo editor at National Geographic.

The Ransom Center's photography collection includes fine art, photojournalism, documentary photography, the history of photography and its technology.

Palu's work in the Arctic was supported by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, National Geographic and Pulitzer Center.

The installation "Arctic Passage" and related talk are being supported by the Harry Ransom Center, Joan Morgenstern and SXSW.

High-resolution press images are available.