Endangered World

Miami artist Xavier Cortada will place 24 flags in a circle around the geographic South Pole, each 15 degrees from one another.
Each flag will display an image the artist created of an endangered species from 24 different regions/time zones on Earth.

In the South Pole, each of the 24 flags in the circle will be aligned with the longitude where the animal lives on the Earth above (e.g., Panda Bear at 105° East, Leatherback Turtle at 120° East, Siberian Tiger at 135° East, etc.).

The twenty-four animals Cortada selected for the flags are endangered because their habitats are environmentally threatened by man and/or because they have been hunted to the brink of extinction.

In the project, the artist situates these animals on the driest, coldest and most inhospitable of continents to highlight the point that numerous species across the globe are losing their habitat. If nothing is done their survival is as unlikely as if they were exiled to the South Pole. Viewers are challenged to learn more about other endangered species and to better understand the environmental challenges we face globally.


0°
European Sea Sturgeon
(Acipenser sturio)

180°
Steller's Sea Lion
(Eumetopias jubatus)

15°
E Black Rhinoceros
(Diceros bicornis)

165° W
Swordfish
(Xiphias gladius)

30° E
Eastern Gorilla
(Gorilla beringei)

150° W
Blue Whale
(Balaenoptera musculus)

45° E
Ring-tailed Lemur
(Lemur catta)

135° W
Sea Otter
(Enhydra lutris)

60°
EImperial Eagle
(Aquila heliaca)

120° W
Peary Caribou
(Rangifer tarandus ssp. pearyi)

75° E
Asian Elephant
(Elephas maximus)

105° W
Wolverine
(Gulo gulo)

90° E
Asian Buffalo
(Bubalus bubalis)

90° W
American Crocodile
(Crocodylus acutus)

105° E
Giant Panda
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

75° W
Red Wolf
(Canis rufus)

120° E
Leatherback Turtle
(Dermochelys coriacea)

60° W
Amazonian Manatee
(Trichechus inunguis)

135° E
Tiger
(Panthera tigris)

45° W
Maned Three-toed Sloth
(Bradypus torquatus)

150° E
Koala
(Phascolarctos cinereus)

30° W
Polar Bear
(Ursus maritimus)

165° E
Yellow-eyed Penguin
(Megadyptes antipodes)

15° W
Chimpanzee
(Pan troglodytes)