Stephen Eastaugh: Knot

Stephen Eastaugh: Knot

In 1773 artist William Hodges left Plymouth with Captain James Cook and became the first artist to visit Antarctica. He set a tradition of topographical, landscape painting that continued throughout the 20th century.

By his own admission, Stephen Eastaugh is geographically promiscuous. He is one of only a handful of artists to winter-over in Antarctica. His intimate yet powerful Knots series, created whilst resident at Mawson Station, bring a contemporary interpretation to that remote landscape.

“There are a lot of knots in Antarctica. I held onto some, made some, tightened a few, undid some, watched them increase in number or decrease to zero and I painted quite a few. I saw knots as positive symbols and intricate graphic patterns but they could also refer to confinement, limitations and force. Knots were simply safety devices. Wind is also measured in knots and in Antarctica many decisions are enforced by the number of knots shown on the weather gauges.”

As a nomadic artist Eastaugh’s overarching inquiry is into the nature of how we experience place. He makes no attempt to make a topographical record of Antarctica’s extreme environment but rather poses a question central to what it means to be human today: how do we know what the world is, when we now walk everywhere upon it?