Stellar Axis: Antarctica

In December 2006, I was photographer for Lita Albuquerque's Stellar Axis Antarctica: the largest and most ambitious Land Art project ever undertaken in Antarctica. Of Tunisian origin and now living in Los Angeles, Lita Albuquerque belongs to the land art generation, alongside James Turell and Christo. Designed in collaboration with astronomer Simon Balm, 'Stellar Axis Antarctica' was intended to mirror, or map the southern constellations as seen at 12 noon on the day of the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. It was realized through the alignment of 99 blue spheres across the Antarctic ice cap - the size of each sphere echoing the brightness of the corresponding star. In Lita's own words: "In realizing this work, my aim was to encourage the public to look up and out, not in and down - to guide people from our everyday reality to the larger stellar movements and their energy": A modern day Stonehenge.