A study of coastal elemental interaction on the north coast…
Exhibition: Antarctica is Melting – David Neilson
An exhibition of black & white Antarctic photographs by David Neilson
This collection of black & white images from Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic is the result of six journeys made by Australian photographer David Neilson. Global warming is having a significant impact on Antarctica. It is melting at an average rate of 400 million tons of ice per day and the Southern Ocean is getting warmer These changes are having a major impact on the wildlife of the continent and surrounding seas. Whilst it is difficult for still photographs to convey the magnitude of these changes they can remind us of what will be lost if this melting continues and possibly accelerates.
Photograph above: David Neilson – Soft light on Emperor penguins, Auster Rookery, Mawson Coast.
Maritime Museum Tasmania. Hobart. 8 August – 1 November 2026
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David Nielson is a two-time recipient of the Australian Government’s Antarctic Arts Fellowship and so he would be acutely aware of the effect of climate heating on this continent including the warming of the Southern Ocean, and how these changes are now having a major impact on the wildlife of the continent and surrounding seas. Sadly, it looks as if this melting will not only continue, but accelerate.
I understand that the images in the ‘Antartica is Melting’ exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Hobart are drawn from Nielson’s six journeys to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic between 1990 and 2009. The photographs from these journeys explore the Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, the Ross Sea, South Georgia and Macquarie Island and they form the basis for his 2012 book ‘Southern Light: Images of Antartica.’
These stunning b+w photographs have an exceptional clarity, fine grain, and they highlight the luminous depth of the polar light.