We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leonor Anthony. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leonor below.

Leonor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

IceBreaking Project

I applied to the Arctic Circle Artist and Science Residency in January of 2019 in my quest to push and challenge myself beyond my preconceived boundaries. I was accepted for the 2020 fall expedition but was delayed because of Covid until October 2022. I went north into the unknown because I felt that as an activist artist I absolutely had to. I had no idea what to expect but upon landing in the Northernmost “city” of Longyearbyen and for the next 23 days, I saw and experienced the unimaginable, a land of unspeakable beauty where sublime became a verb and where every day, overwhelmed by beauty – I openly and uninhibitedly cried.
I decided to name my overall arctic project Ice Breaking both as a play on words and by the relevance of its several meanings and what is literally happening in our arctic regions; the ice is breaking.
The Ice Breaking Project is my attempt to renarrativize the arctic experience through the incorporation of different artistic disciplines both individual (full length documentary, soundtrack and images ) and collaborative (Arctic Visions: Poetry and Images from a Changing Landscape with colleague Roberto Polillo ), all through a different perspective – my poetry illustrated by images.
No longer following the trails of the Heroic Arctic Exploration Age that started in the mid 19th century or the men who came north for fame and conquest but from the perspective of “artists heroes”, who have traveled to the arctic regions in large numbers since the 1990s’ not to conquer and plant flags but to nurture and be part of the solution, and whose footprints are not left on the land itself but on the work created and the stories told.
Twenty seven artists, scholars and scientists sailed together the Svalbard archipelago along with twelve crew and an elderly and utterly sweet Husky named Hildago.
We sailed north and reached the farthest most northern point of the archipelago at almost 81 latitude .
We anchored in a new inlet or fjord every night and every day we woke to a new mind-blowing landscape.
Every morning we outfitted ourselves with the proper three or four layered panoply of garments and equipment and set out on the zodiacs alongside our polar bear protectors to produce our individual projects and explore. We saw and followed from the ship, a lonely polar bear for about 30 minutes, we were just feet away from seals, walruses, arctic reindeer and arctic foxes. We stood on the ground where the Salomon Andre’s failed balloon expedition took flight in 1897, our names now follow the long list of arctic explorers like Robert Peary, Sir John Franklin and Roald Amundsen.
We saw the northern lights on the horizon and discovered that they are not only made up of green hues but also red and blue which were only visible through our technological devices yet not our eyes.
The light was indescribable. Our days were a mixture of sunrises and sunsets, the likes of nothing I have ever seen before. A constant transforming stream of pinks, oranges, gold and glacier blues followed by beautifully interchanging shades of gray and black illuminated but an iridescent eternal moon and plethora of stars. It was surreal.
The Glaciers, each one their own unique self and personality, growled and caved like live walls of disintegrating blues. Their names Holmiabreen, Erikbreen, Dalhbreen, just to name a few of the ones we were fortunate enough to experience out of the 21,000 glaciers in Spitsbergen.
The Ice, sloshing, bobbing, constantly crackling pieces of all sizes, like frozen diamonds dancing on the teal pristine waters.
Sailing north towards the north pole through unchartered waters and unfathomable icescapes on a three mast wooden vessel where time stood still and the space continuum was palpable made us feel more alive than ever. We had no cell reception, no internet, no contact with the world beneath us, and nothing to interfere with our magnificent present. It was truly incredible.
Most of us returned altered, stunned and speechless.

I returned forever changed by what I saw and experienced and bewildered by the enormous responsibility to tell the arctic story.

For about a month I stayed inside myself and silent, for I could not turn what I saw into ordinary language, for what we shared together as a group of artists was too sacred and magical for speech.

It is my hope that our work and words will inspire a new generation of explorers and activists in their commitment to art, exploration and ultimately the preservation and safeguarding of our awe inspiring home and that even if for just a few seconds, we can transmit the extraordinary feeling of being there.

Leonor Anthony

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Cuban Born multidisciplinary activist artist based in Miami, Florida. I am an accredited scholar, artist, photographer, curator and published author and filmmaker. I am known for my use of unique materials and by creating works that invoke awareness to some of the most important social and environmental issues of our time. I am an Artivist , recognized for using art as a vehicle of activism. I love to explore limitless styles, materials and at times using violently expressive color and jarring compositions, others times using objects to tell the story. Through unpredictable elements, I aim to bring light to issues ranging from immigration, women’s empowerment, and environmental preservation, and to hopefully elicit emotional reactions.
I participated by invitation in the 57th Venice Biennale. My work was exhibited as part of the European Cultural Center’s exhibit Personal Structures, Open Borders at the Palazzo Bembo in the Grand Canal from May 13th to November 26th, 2017.
Two of my monumental works are part of the Florida International University’s permanent collection exhibited at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and The FIU College of Law. I am the permanent Artist in Residency of the FIU Honors College.
My work is also part of the collection of the University of California Davis Medical Campus ; the piece Reminiscing in Tempo is located in the president of the University’s office. The work was the focus of an inter campus series of talks on the existing inequities on the US Health Care System during the 2020 Pandemic.
In 2019, I co-authored the critically acclaimed book “Sounds of Freedom” based on the intersection of Jazz, Black and White Jazz photography of the 1960’s , the Civil Rights Movement and my work inspired but both. The book is part of the US Library of Congress as well as President Barack Obama’s personal collection.
My work is in permanent collection of the Jefferson City Missouri Museum of Modern Art and Museo Contemporaneo de Valencia , Venezuela.
A monumental installation currently in production will be part of the permanent collection of the Junmao Museum of Contemporary Art in Cancun , Mexico, whom I will direct and curate.
My latest projects deal with environmental issues and are based on the once in a lifetime experience of sailing the waters around the North Pole for 23 days in October 2022. This incredible experience is the impetus of my first book of poetry titled : Arctic Visions, Poetry and Images from a Changing Landscape ,published and printed in Italy in September 2023 and Im in the editing phase of what will be my first full length documentary based on the experience, titled IceBreaking.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Making a Difference !

Making art from the bottom of my soul,
my voice: which is free and fearless.

I strongly believe that art can change the world and that one person can definitely make a difference. Using the right colors and formats we can illicit guttural emotional reactions that hopefully will inspire action. Art is so incredibly powerful!

Art has the power to inspire, challenge and transform people’s perspectives as well as be a powerful tool for social change.
If used effectively, art becomes a glimpse, a mirror or portrait of what is going on in society.
It can become magnified in order to make it impossible to avoid confronting it, it cannot be unseen.

We artists can bring to light the existential drama of our times in a beautiful and impactful manner in order to start a conversation from a direct yet safe space. Art that is passionate and made with the intent of creating social change, will hopefully move and motivate others to join in , there are really no limits to what art can accomplish.
Throughout history artists have been at the forefront of social change and activism.
Recently, we have seen art play a major a role in movements from the Women’s March to Black Lives Matter.
Artists have effectively used their work to shine a light on important issues, spark conversations, and rally people to action.
In a time when the world can feel divided and lonely, art can be a unifying force bringing people together to fight for a better future.

“Social change is important because it is the engine that drives history. It is the force that has created and destroyed civilizations, that has led to the rise and fall of empires, and that has shaped the course of human social evolution. Social change is a powerful and often dangerous force, but it is also essential to the progress of humanity.”

Art is at the center of social change.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I believe most non – creatives see our lives as a continuous self indulging , responsibility free , childlike , debauchery filled journey , and nothing could be farther from the truth.

The life of a creative is not an easy one , and one that is filled with sacrifice and enormous amount of work just to. be able to do that which we were programed to do from birth. We did not choose art , it chose us . It is the air we breathe and the reason for our lives. We do not have a choice, for if we did anything else , we would die a slow and painful death every day.

We need the support , love and understanding of those around us , our families and communities , in order to flourish, in order to make art , in order to lead happy , fulfilled lives.

We need each other and we need you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leonoranthony.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonoranthonyartist/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeonorAnthonyArtist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonoranthony/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/home
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LeonorAnthonyArtist