Louie Palu: Distant Early Warning
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Audain Art Museum 4350 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, British Columbia V0N 1B4
Louie Palu, "Canadian Rangers," 2015-18
pigment print (courtesy the artist and Stephen Bulger Gallery, ©Louie Palu, supported by funding from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, National Geographic magazine and Pulitzer Prize Center) 'Canadian Rangers from Resolute Bay and Arctic Bay train soldiers in Arctic survival at temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius at the Crystal City training site in Resolute Bay, Nunavut.'
Louie Palu: Distant Early Warning is a testament to award-winning photographer Louie Palu’s outstanding career, which has included projects for the New York Times, the BBC and Der Spiegl. From 2015 to 2018, what began for Palu as a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship evolved into an assignment for National Geographic magazine. The resulting photographs are showcased in Distant Early Warning, providing a window into the evolving militarization of the North American Arctic, documenting the vestigial legacies of the Cold War and the increased military presence in the North today. Taken as a whole, this distinct series of images examines the growing geopolitical tensions and changing life in one of the planet’s most extreme climates.
“The Itee Pootoogook and Louie Palu exhibitions combined offer a rare opportunity for Museum visitors t oexperience the multi-faceted cultural and political realities of the Arctic,” explains Dr. Curtis Collins, Director& Chief Curator of the Audain Art Museum. Both exhibitions were organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian