Wild Hope
The Project
Wild Hope is an ongoing project documenting Antarctica through photography and film.
It follows a single thread across the Southern Ocean: what we took, and what has returned. A century ago industrial whaling brought the great whales of the south to the edge of disappearance. Today, in the same water, they are coming back. Wild Hope sits in the space between that loss and that recovery, where the evidence of both is still visible, often within sight of each other.
The work is not about spectacle. It is about a place humans can visit but never own, held in balance by restraint and agreement, and about what that balance asks of us now, as the climate shifts and new pressures reach the last great wilderness.
The project spans large-format prints, exhibition, film and talks, built over repeated seasons on the Antarctic Peninsula. All field work follows IAATO guidelines, with underwater images made freediving on available light and no flash.
If we give the wild the space it needs, it finds its way back. Wild Hope is an argument for giving it that space.
Wild Hope - The film
Wild Hope is a six-minute film about Antarctica. About what we took from the Southern Ocean during the industrial whaling era, and the recovery now underway in the same waters. By the 1950s the blue and humpback whales of the south had been reduced to two or three percent of their former numbers. Today the great whales are returning, drawn back to the vast clouds of krill that feed the entire system. The film follows that arc from loss to return, and asks what it means that the wild can recover at all, if we give it the space. Released on World Oceans Day. Directed, filmed and narrated by Matt Sharp. Part of Wild Hope, an ongoing project documenting the Antarctic Peninsula across stills, film and exhibition.
The Exhibition
Wild Hope was created during a small-vessel sailing journey to Antarctica, filmed and photographed on deck, in the water and among the harsh weather of the Southern Ocean. The exhibition aims to share a simple idea: that even in the most remote and unforgiving places, the wild can recover if given the chance. Prints available.
