Boreal is the name of the ship in the apocalyptic novel “The Purple Cloud” written by M.P. Shiel, published in 1901. The story follows Adam Jefferson, the first man to reach/colonize the North Pole and the last man left alive on Earth. Other key references that fueled this piece include the collapsed Soviet coal mines in Pyramiden, the tankers moving through the Suez Canal and the turquoise glow of sea ice. As part of my ongoing research into devastated landscapes and fossil fuel extraction, I wanted to recreate the brilliance and tragedy of melting sea ice using DOW Chemical polystyrene insulation fanfold materials and synthetic blue light. I recall asking the Captain of the Antigua “why even on the greyest day,   the ice would continue to glow this magnificent turquoise” and he said “the more ancient the ice, the more intense it will glow.”