Antarctic Graphic Novel: A Look at the Science in Antarctica through the Eyes of an Artist

Wicks Maris, Somerville MA

Investigators

Abstract

This Antarctic Artists and Writers project supports the creation of a 200+ page graphic novel that highlights four major disciplines studied in Antarctica: Organisms and Ecosystems, Integrated System Science, Earth Sciences, and Astrophysics and Geospace Sciences. Within each of these disciplines, the artist will engage with the research teams, and will directly observe and document their research. The researchers in the named science areas have stated their willingness, indeed eagerness, to participate in her efforts. The artist's aim is to give an overview of each discipline, and to emphasize the importance and significance of each field's research. The experiences of the artist in Antarctica will serve as a connecting narrative for the book, allowing readers to witness the science from a first-person perspective. The book is designed to engage a broad audience, especially young readers, in the wide array of unique and important research being conducted in Antarctica as well as in the human experience of living and working there. The book will target 4-8th grade readers, but will be written to be entertaining for adults as well. The artist has the commitment of First Second Books, a division of Macmillan, to publish the proposed book.