All photographs on this website © copyright Shaun O'Boyle 2015-2023, all rights reserved.
email contact: oboylephoto@gmail.com
Portraits of Place in the Arctic and Antarctic is a project photographing the landscapes, architecture and related infrastructure in polar regions. Visits have been made to the three US Antarctic science stations, and to Arctic locations in Svalbard, Norway, and Iceland. This project explores the complex landscapes of Arctic and Antarctic regions, and how human and natural histories have shaped these regions. It's a perspective that sees the present landscape at the intersection of history, culture, architecture, topography, and the rapid changes brought by climate change.
Prints: Photographs are available as prints, and some in book form. Visit my main Website at www.oboylephoto.com for prints, or email me at oboylephoto@gmail.com with any questions. All photographs on this site are available as prints.
Shaun O’Boyle is a three time grantee of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artist and Writers Program, and the recipient of a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography. His Antarctica photographs were recently published in Places Journal accompanied by an essay by William L. Fox; in the book Antarctic Resolution released for the 2021 Venice Biennale Architettura, and in Smithsonian magazine in an article written by Kim Stanley Robinson titled Nightmare On the Ice (Dec 2017).
Prints from Antarctica were shown in Berlin, and in Milan at the Antarctic Resolution / Fondazione Kenta exhibition, held during the Pre-COP climate change conference in Milan, Sept-29-Oct 24, 2021; and at a recent exhibition at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. Shaun was awarded the A.R.T. (Artist Resource Trust) Grant from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation in January, 2021, which is being used for a Climate Crisis related photography project in the Arctic; the Martha Boschen Porter Fund from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, which is being used to produce large format artists books (measuring 18”x24”) of his Arctic & Antarctic work.
Shaun studied architecture and environmental design at Parsons School of Design in NYC. His book Modern Ruins - Portraits of Place in the Mid-Atlantic Region was published in 2010, and he has nine self-published photography books available through Blurb.com. He has shown work at a number of museums and galleries including the Berkshire Museum and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. Shaun’s photograph of the IceCube Lab at the South Pole was featured on the cover of Ligabue Magazine in 2024.
In November, 2019 Shaun hosted the Smithsonian Magazine Instagram from the South Pole for 1 week, and previously hosted the same in 2017 from Palmer Station, Antarctica; his work has been featured in a number of books, magazines and websites including the Smithsonian Magazine article Nightmare on the Ice by author Kim Stanley Robinson (Dec 2017); Photo District News, October 2017 article titled Science-Focused Artist Residencies on the Rise; Lenswork #77 2008 (cover and feature on Bethlehem Steel), among others. Shaun is a member of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Collective, a group of artist who have been to Antarctica through the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artist and Writers program. Website: www.aawcollective.com/
Exhibitions:Adequate Earth - Artists and Writers in Antarctica, Jan 28-May 22, 2021; Berkshire Artists 2024 & 2020 at the Stationary Factory Gallery in Dalton, MA; Adaptations to Extremes, Jan 19-Feb 22 2019, Courthouse Gallery, Lake George, NY - prints from the Arctic and Antarctic; Portraits of Place in Antarctica at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA June-October 1, 2017; Housatonic River photographs at the No.6 Depot gallery in West Stockbridge, MA; The Rail Lines project was featured at the PRC Gallery in Boston in August 2012. Review of this show in the Boston Globe.
Book: Shaun’s book Modern Ruins: Portraits of Place in the Mid-Atlantic Region was published in 2010 by Penn State University Press. The book includes photographs of steel mills, institutions, coal mining, and Bannerman’s Arsenal on Pollepel Island on the Hudson River, an introduction by Geoff Manaugh, and brief essays by noted historians Curt Miner, Kenneth Warren, Kenneth Wolensky, and Thomas Lewis who offer social and historical contexts for the photographs in the book.
Shaun has photographed, designed and self-published eight different books including Arctic, Bethlehem Steel, The Boatyard, Bazaar, Kennedy Space Center, The Asylum, Rail Lines and Housatonic River available at Blurb.com here.
His photographs are also featured on Lensculture, Art Photo Index, main website www.oboylephoto.com, & on instagram @ soboyle.