Polly Townsend, Antarctic Paintings

In January 2023, Polly Townsend spent five weeks on HMS Protector in Antarctica as artist in residence, a position made possible through the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Given the ship’s crow’s nest as a studio, and with her own specially developed equipment and techniques to paint on land, Townsend returned with over 50 drawings and paintings from the expedition. The exhibition brings together these works along with studio paintings evoking “Antarctica’s seemingly infinite range of personalities”.