Hi Jane,
I am really intrigued with your project. I went to the arctic Listening Post and did just that, I listened and watched the collaborative piece you did with Victor McSurely.
This piece is very surreal and beautiful. I think it relates in some way to how many of us think of the north pole. It’s not hard to connect to the plight of our world and the effects man has had on the environment. Especially in how it is affecting the North Pole. What I find interesting about this piece, is that in many ways, it removes me from the devistation taking place and I relate to the north pole in a sort of disconnected place. I think most people are quite disconnected and can only imagine what it must be like, what changes are taking place etc. The Video and the Music are beautiful to me, something about it also connects me to the larger view of man, the world, the universe. So, its a bit of a dichotomy in that I feel a disconnect from the actual devistation, but I feel a connection because of the beauty and serenity I see by way of these images looped together. Of course, the water and ice are the big connection to life etc.

“Long Live Dreams” ®. When I was up in the high arctic to film the documentary “Arctic Passage” (PBS), we were all issued clothing which had been used previously by the American Express Franklin Memorial Expedition, a re-tracing of the last fatal steps of the Franklin expedition (without the cannibalism, of course). The corporate sponsors of this group hit on the slogan “Long Live Dreams,” which was stitched on all the pants and parkas, followed by a little trademark ®. It struck me that to register such a phrase as a trademark seemed very odd and somewhat disturbing — would our dreams live as long without American Express? Still, I suppose there are many worse phrases to live by. Had each of us our own stitched on our clothing, how many of us would be surprised to find our true ethos — “Long Live Drudgery” — writ there for all to see? How many of us have, “with an exploring hand,” sounded the fathoms of our own most ice-clogged Frozen Regions? It is not, certainly, contradictory to travel upon the Earth as well as within one’s soul – but alas, it is all too often the case that people travel in body only, their souls as forgetful of the impression as a wad of silly putty on a warm tabletop.

Do you have any pictures of that? Could you post them in a main post? I’d love to see that. I’m so interested in historical reenactments of those exploits and efforts–what must it be like to have a huge part of our world totally unknown? Thanks for the great story–look forward to hearing more

Hi Jane, sorry I had meant to make that a more “main” post — I’ve just posted a fuller version with a photo on the main page. The picture’s not clear enough to read the slogan, but it gives a good idea of what a morning on location looked like!

Victor McSurely here. Thanks! For my part, I wanted to foster just the kind of connection you speak of. in many ways to me the cause of global warming isn’t economic or ecological, it is because we as humans are still evolving into beings that value connection and wholeness. one of the things i truly love about Jane’s work is that there is much in it about how the arctic has been, and is, this symbol of the remote or the unknown, and as such historically there are countless metaphors of how people have succeeded or failed at approaching it which are direct analogues to how we have sought connection to the remote and unknown in ourselves and each other. the creativity and hope, the real seeing that can get us through this crisis will require minds that can relate to the remote and the unknown as part the whole in which we live. so if my contribution help in that reflection and connection to a larger view it is good to know.