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PHOTOGRAPH: The Pacific, on the way to Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands | DRAWING: Earhart fuel consumption flight path, No. 1 | ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT: Archival chart of Earhart’s path to Howland Island
>>>The work presented is in both a gallery layout and in book form in order to show the various mediums used in the project in a cohesive manner. -
PHOTOGRAPH: The edge of the jungle, Enedrik-Kan Island, Milli Atoll, Marshall Islands |
>>> Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan were believed to have been forced to land their plane on Enedrik-Kan Island. Young boys hiding in the leaves on the edge of the jungle tell of seeing Earhart and Noonan climbing from their aircraft after their landing on the dry reef. Too afraid to reveal themselves they watch as Japanese Imperial Navy crewman land on the island and take Earhart and Noonan prisoner. -
PHOTOGRAPH: Site of discovered wheel-cover, believed to be from Earhart’s plane, Enedrik-Kan Island, Milli Atoll, Marshall Islands | ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT: Naval message “Earhart unreported Howland ...” |
>>> A flat, circular shaped piece of aluminum was found on this spot by Dick Spink, a high school teacher and entrepreneur from Bow, Washington. His interest in the Earhart disappearance began after a business trip to the Marshall Islands where he heard the many accounts by local Marshallese of Earhart’s landing and final demise at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Navy. -
PHOTOGRAPH: Site of dock where Earhart was presumed photographed after being captured by the Japanese military, Jabor Island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands | ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT: Photograph purported to be Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan standing on dock, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands |
>>> A photograph (left) recently released to the world is believed to have been taken on a dock on the site of this dock today. The photograph is said to portray Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan after having been transported to Jaluit Island from Enedrik-Kan Island. Their aircraft can be seen in the background of the photograph being towed into port behind the Japanese cargo ship, Koshu Maru. -
CONSTRUCTION (Left):
Sea, No. 1
(0° 48′ 24″ N, 176° 36′ 59″ W)
Sea, No. 2
(0°11′41″N 176°28′46″W)
Sea, No. 3
(4.68°S 174.517°W)
Sea, No. 4
(3°36′S 174°07′W)
Galvanized steel
CONSTRUCTION (Right): Island
Cell cast acrylic, sand
2021 EXHIBITION IMAGE: The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University, December 2020-May 2021.
>>> Amelia Earhart disappeared on the third leg from the last of her 32-leg journey around the world—attempting to fly to Howland Island—a tiny deserted patch of scrub land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She was to refuel on Howland with the assistance of the crew from the waiting United States Coast Guard cutter, Itasca. Howland Island, like many of the volcanic islands of the Pacific, just barely reveals itself above the waves while a mountain of land rests below the deep sea. -
CONSTRUCTION: Search Grid, No. 2
Cell cast acrylic
2021 EXHIBITION IMAGE: The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University, December 2020-May 2021.
>>> Amelia Earhart disappeared over the vast and deep Pacific Ocean. To attempt to find her and her plane then, as well as only the plane wreckage now, a search grid would be developed for both the most efficient and effective means of success. The science and methodology to a grid of this sort is in fact a beautiful visual structure to be explored. Installation image of the first solo exhibition of phase one of the project is currently on view at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University. -
PHOTOGRAPH: Japanese pillbox dislodged by the sea, Taroa Island, Maloelap Atoll, Marshall Islands | >>> During the Second World War, many islands in the Central Pacific became targets of Allied attacks. The U.S. Central Pacific Campaign began with the Gilbert Islands, south of the Mandated Islands—U.S. forces conquered the Gilberts in November 1943. Next was Operation Flintlock, a plan to capture the Marshall Islands.
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PHOTOGRAPH: Japanese built seawall, Aineman Island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands | >>> The Japanese withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933 and began transforming the Mandated Islands into military bases. Non-Japanese, including Christian missionaries, were kept from the islands as naval and air bases—meant to threaten shipping lanes between Australia and Hawaii—were constructed.
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PHOTOGRAPH: American bomb crater in jungle, Wotje Island, Wotje Atoll, Marshall Islands | >>> The Marshall Islands, east of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, had been in Japanese hands since World War I. Occupied by the Japanese in 1914, they were made part of the “Japanese Mandated Islands” as determined by the League of Nations.
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PHOTOGRAPH: Japanese pillbox on reef, Imiej Island, Jaluit Atoll | ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT: Drawing of Japanese bunker |
>>> The Japanese withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933 and began transforming the Mandated Islands into military bases. Non-Japanese, including Christian missionaries, were kept from the islands as naval and air bases—meant to threaten shipping lanes between Australia and Hawaii—were constructed. -
PHOTOGRAPH: Coconut husks left behind from the harvesting of copra, Knox Atoll, Marshall Islands | ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT: Letter from Nina Paxton
to Time Magazine |
>>> During the US Navy’s search for Earhart, a woman by the name of Nina Paxton claimed to have heard Amelia on the radio, “On July 3rd, 1937 at 2:20 PM EST, I picked up Amelia Earhart’s distress signal by short wave”. She said that Earhart had said they were on a small island believed to be part of Knox Atoll in the Marshall Islands. -
PHOTOGRAPH (Left): Amelia Earhart’s possible burial site, Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands | PHOTOGRAPH (Right):Tinian Island, Northern Mariana Islands |
>>> The most accepted theory of Amelia Earhart’s death in the “Japanese Capture” theory surmises that she died of dysentery while being held in the prison on Saipan, and was subsequently buried on this site by the Japanese in an unmarked grave.
>>> Another theory of Amelia Earhart’s demise is that she and Fred Noonan were taken to Tinian Island after having been convicted of being spies for the Allies and were summarily executed.
