FOWLER SCHOOL MURAL

How much do you really know about Antarctica?

Sure, you probably know that it’s one of the seven continents, but pretty much everyone knows the seven continents. If you had Mr. Cotter for sixth grade history, which I did, you had a test on it. And we learned about the seven continents in kindergarten. I was in Ms. Krasinski’s class, and we did this really cute dance with lion masks on to teach people about Africa. So come on, people.

Did you know, for example, that Antarctica is a desert? Well, it is… dictionary.com defined desert as “a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all”. How much rainfall does Antarctica get?  Only 2 inches a year, which is the least of any place in the world. So by that logic, Antarctica is the most desertlike place in the world.

“Sure,” you say. “That makes total sense. If I had stopped to think about Antarctica for a minute, I would have realized that.”

But that is exactly my point.

How often do you stop to think about Antarctica? Do you care about Antarctica’s news? You might say, “Antarctica doesn’t have news. It is a random hunk of ice nobody cares about.” But that’s not true. Pop quiz: Do you know what the flag of Antarctica looks like? Can you name one monument in Antarctica? One sport in Antarctica?      

No?

Well, that’s on you. Antarctica certainly has a flag, and it has multiple monuments. While there aren’t Antarctic sports specifically, there is a famous Antarctic Marathon. So I hope you go look at my section of the mural closely, and learn about Antarctica.

Are you back? So what did you see?

An Antarctic landscape and some weird sculpture with a globe on top. Good for you. Now I’m sure you’re asking yourself, what the heck does that mean?

Let’s start with the landscape. I chose a coastal view of Antarctica in all its icy glory. “OK,” you say. “So what does that mean?” Think about it for a minute. Are you done? Good. Now I’ll tell you why I included the coast in the mural. What does a coast represent to you? To me, it represents opportunity, how much we have left to learn, and the borders of our knowledge… and how we’re constantly expanding them. But you might have other reasons. That’s good. Art is a collaboration between the “artist” and the “viewer”, each working together to create their own idea of what the art is and what it represents. It’s like the “if a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it” riddle- the artist can create all they want, but without an audience, is it art?

The monument represents the Antarctic Treaty, and honoring it. It’s called the Antarctic Treaty Monument, and it is located off the Chilean coast of Antarctica, on King George Island. The Antarctic Treaty is an agreement between several countries stating to use Antarctica’s land for peaceful purposes only, to continue to study Antarctica and attempt to learn more about it, and to exchange research and results with other countries. It is important because the whole central idea of our mural is basically global collaboration, equality, and diversity, and the Antarctic Treaty honors different countries rights to exploring, researching, and learning about Antarctica.   

In conclusion, I challenge you to think outside the box, and not necessarily to become an Antarctica scholar, but to think more about what’s going on in your world.