Now at MOAH Cedar in Lancaster through February 9th, artist J.J. L’Heureux’s Faces from the Southern Ocean & Shackleton’s Hut Series offers an insightful and moving look at the Antarctic landscape.
L’Heureux is a visionary photographer, providing a rich documentary of people and places unique to many viewers. This doesn’t mean the artist doesn’t work in other mediums as well, such as paintings and collages with real depth and a lush beauty of their own, but it is with her photographic work that viewers may feel the most immersed in a visual world previously unseen. Nor is L’Heureux focused solely on distant and exotic locales, among her recent works are dreamy images of the community around her Venice Beach studio, as well.
But at MOAH Cedar, the artist exhibits her spirit of adventure and her naturalist sense of wonder. She made her first trip to Antarctica in 2000, and has returned every year since, building a vast body of work that includes digital images of close-ups of albatross and penguins, expansive and awe-inspiring photographs of the Ross Ice Shelf, and poignant looks at late explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds.
From penguins to people, L’Heureux captures a world we may have little acess to explore on our own; bringing a visceral and thrilling experience home to Southern California. A seasoned traveller, accostumed to harsh conditions and the miricle of magic moments with sea life and surreal scenery, her work has been included in hundreds of both national and international exhibitions.
She has 3 solo exhibitions over the next 2 months and is currently participating in several group shows as well. Faces from the Southern Ocean & Shackleton Hut Series will be appearing at the Discovery Museum, Bridgeport, Conneticut and at Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, and the Mayborn Museum, Baylor University, in Waco, Texas. Catch it here at MOAH, and prepare to be awed.
- Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist and Genie Davis