Brooke Johnson's Art

The Admiral is an automaton, built and operated by a penguin.
In my absurdist story, the pilot had left the colony* and found the remains of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, and built the sledge and automaton from the salvage, returning to the colony to “improve” everyone’s lives! (I didn't start out with that idea. It's what emerged after the many bits and pieces came together, and my mind had wandered...). It is also a satire on the automatic-cashiers and other “labour-saving”, job-losing, profit-making innovations, here the inactive penguins are fat and demanding.

The Automaton has movable sections and is constructed mostly from marine parts. The white head was originally the old water pump housing from our boat's generator, fabricated by Oberdorfer Pumps. The penguin "pilot" is in the hat/helm station/cab. The automaton-style figure rotates on the wooden sledge which can roll on its gas-stove spreaders; the head also rotates, and the fish basket can be raised and lowered via a bicycle chain connected to the shift-throttle assembly from a small boat's centre console. It was built during times of Lock down, when I couldn't go to the Hardware store, and so some washers are made from pennies.

*There is a foundation for this story! Near the beginning of his stunning documentary, Encounters at the End of the World, Werner Herzog features haunting footage of a "deranged" penguin who sets off in the opposite direction from his colony by the sea, and heads off towards the mountains. Perhaps he had this idea in mind!