Who am I?
I am an artist and academic. I’m the former Head of School of the Arts, English and Media at the University of Wollongong. My artistic practice extends across traditional media, computational new media and environmentally focused socially engaged art.
How does my work relate to Antarctica?
My father, Prof John Bunt, was a marine microbiologist who spent several seasons in the Antarctic during the 1950s and 60s. His focus was on marine photosynthesis and blue green algae. He was also the first person to dive beneath Antarctic ice for scientific reasons. Anyway, this association fostered an interest in Antarctica and I jumped at the opportunity to travel there as a multimedia producer for Theme Media. Between 2005-2007 I travelled on tourist cruise trips to the Sub Antarctic, the Ross Sea and the Antarctic peninsula, recording countless photographs and many hours of video along the way. This was intended for commercial travelogues, but also prompted more general reflection. I became increasingly aware of the awkward reality of Antarctica – simultaneosuly imagined and real, reflecting a complex intersection of aesthetic, scientific and policy perspectives. While Antarctica retains a sense of alien wilderness, it is also extensively monitored as a key context of contemporary climate change and represents a vital sphere of international political negotiation. My artistic work explores this difficult new identity, employing a range of documentary and computational imaging approaches to highlight the uncertain boundaries between sublimity, catastrophe and data.
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