When an unexpected gap in programming opened up in the Polar Museum’s exhibition calendar in the autumn of 2022, they generously asked if I might like to do something about the graphic novel to fill the space between shows. Vol.1 is only the journey to Antarctica, and therefore not very polar, as such, so we decided the best approach was to talk about bringing the personages of the Expedition to life as fully rounded characters in a finished page of graphic novel (and how the Scott Polar Research Institute’s archives and museum collection helped to do that).
People get whole degrees in museum sciences, and it’s a very competitive field to get into; I was coming at it as a complete noob with only a great love of museums and knowing what I like to see in them, so I felt like a bit of an interloper. But the Curator and Education Officer at SPRI/The Polar Museum are knowledgeable and experienced, and kept the show on the straight and narrow. (The depot-laying illustrations around the skirting board were the Education Officer’s idea for how to interest the smaller kids – I’d never have thought of that.) It’s come out as a sort of cross between an art gallery, a reliquary, and an old-fashioned Making Of special, but it was very well-received, so far, so we must have done something right, however unconventional.
The mixed blessing was that it got people really interested in the book. When we planned the show, we expected the book would have been out for a month or two by then and very much stocked in the gift shop; for boring publishing reasons, however, we did not, and at opening we still didn’t even have a release date to give them.
As it happened, the book came out just as the show closed – in fact I had my book launch at the Polar Museum on just about the last night that everything was still up on the walls.
The museum administration and I discussed possibly having a proper exhibition when Vol.2 comes out – Polar Museum shows usually run for eight months to a year, not six weeks, so more people could see it and buy a book. In the meantime the curator and most of the administration have changed, so who knows. If it happens, I will definitely post about it here!
However, if you’re interested in the graphic novel, or polar history more generally, and are convenient to Cambridge, get yourself to the Polar Museum on Lensfield Road (Weds-Sat 10:00-16:00) and have a look-see. The permanent collection at the museum is one of the best in the world, so even though my show is gone, you will not be disappointed.
the Polar Museum
Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER
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