Artist Statement
I have spent years roaming the world's largest bodies of ice from the Arctic sea on the way to the North Pole, to the ice sheet of Greenland, all the way to the desolate heart of Antarctica. I have covered over 8,000 kilometers on skis. I developed frostbites, I broke bones, fell through the ice and was attacked by polar bears.
The images I bring back tell the story of a changing environment. While exotic and antagonistic to human life, that world in reality looks a lot like us: defiant, fragile and fleeting.
Sebastian Copeland
Process Statement
Photography to me is a predatory quest. And when capturing the world of ice, I am less concerned with creating art than capturing Nature at its most pristine and vulnerable state. In that sense, I am more voyeur than interpreter.
To the casual observer, the ice may look monotonous; a tediously repetitive blanket of white that stretches agonizingly in all directions. In reality, this frozen land reveals itself it its multitude of subtle details, forever changing with the light, and the dynamics of the day, to those committing to travel its foreboding realm. I can honestly say that while I could not describe exactly how, I do not recall seeing the same vistas twice. The sometimes subtle--sometimes not-- shifts in colors, in shadows, in terrain gives each hour its own visual identity, its own unique splendor.
An award-winning photographer, explorer, author, and environmental activist, British-French Sebastian Copeland has made the fight for the protection of the environment his life’s work.
Between 2009-2012, Sebastian accomplished the grand slam of polar travel by leading expeditions across the Arctic sea, Greenland and Antarctica, covering over 7,000 kilometers on skis over the ice, and earning four world records in the process.
In 2009, Sebastian traveled the Arctic with expedition partner Keith Heger on a journey to reach the North Pole to commemorate its centennial, in hopes of raising awareness to climate change and its effects on the Arctic. The outcome of this voyage is the riveting award winning documentary Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul. The film captures the two men’s dramatic expedition to the rapidly vanishing North Pole – considered the toughest expedition on Earth.
On Greenland, which he crossed in its 2300 kilometers south-north axis in 2010 with partner Eric McNair Landry, Sebastian earned a Guinness record for the longest distance traveled in a twenty-four hour period on skis and kites, with 595 kilometers.
On the centennial 2011-2012 season of the South Pole, again with partner Eric McNair-Landry, Sebastian led a 4100 kilometers transcontinental crossing of Antarctica by skis and kites, setting three world records over the 82 days expedition.
As an international speaker on climate crisis for over a decade, Sebastian has addressed audiences at the United Nations, the World Affairs Council, the General Assembly on Climate in New Orleans. He has spoken at universities and museums as well as fortune 500 companies such Hewlett Packard, Google and Apple headquarters. He has appeared on Larry King Live, ABC, NPR, Air America, and hosted an environmental TV program for Al Gore’s 24 hours of Climate Reality, as a champion of climate causes.
Sebastian’s award winning photographs have been published globally, while his fine quality prints have appeared at the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the George Eastman House, Peabody Essex Museum and the Field Museum in Chicago. Sebastian has been noted as a photographer “who has produced works that are of outstanding artistic merit and communicates messages of urgent global significance." Sebastian received the prestigious International Photography Awards’ 2007 Professional Photographer of the Year for his first book, “Antarctica: The Global Warning.”
In 2008, Sebastian was named German GQ’s Man of the Year for environmental leadership. In 2009 he received Global Green’s prestigious Founder Award, and in 2010 Gala magazine awarded him for his environmental stewardship. In 2010, he received Cinema For Peace’s Special Jury Award for his film Into The Cold. In 2014 Sebastian was awarded the coveted Green Good Design Award.
Sebastian is a board member and tireless advocate of Global Green USA.
Sebastian currently lives in Los Angeles and drives a hybrid.
www.sebastiancopelandadventures.com
www.antarcticabook.com
www.intothecold.org
twitter
linkedin