John Drage is the man from Northern Norway who preserved the sea cabin in which Shackleton died in 1922. When the ship Quest was taken to his shipyard for a refit, Drage had the cabin taken to his farm above the arctic circle where it was preserved by generations of the Drage family. Johan Drage’s great-grandson, Ulf Bakke donated the cabin to the Shackleton Museum in Athy. After restoration it will be installed in the refurbished museum in 2025.

Medbh Gillard was born in Galway, studied art at Crawford Municipal School of Art, Cork and later at ATU Donegal. She has a Bachelor of Arts Psychology from University of Galway and graduated from ATU Sligo with a MA I Historicaly and Heritage Studies of the North West. She was laser awarded a Decade of Centenaries research bursary from the Royal Irish Academy. She lives and works as a Visual Artist in Sligo, Ireland. The heritage, people and wildlife of this coastal setting inform her portrait, mixed media, sculptural, experimental film and soundscape work. With a grounding in drawing and 3D modelling she has a powerful sense of the visceral reaction which art can induce in the viewer. She is the founder of the Maritime Heritage Weekend in Rosses Point. Her historical research and visual art practice continue to evolve symbiotically- addressing contemporary themes and aspects of the human condition whilst highlighting the historical narrative. She has a strong personal interest in polar exploration. In 2016 she created a series of 29 portraits of the crew of the Endurance to commemorate the centenary of Shackleton’s Imperial Transantarctic Expedition. This collection has been exhibited at the Tom Crean festival in Kerry and the Shackleton Autumn School in Athy. She is working on portraits of the Ross Sea Party. Medbh Gillard has had 4 solo exhibitions and her work is held in public and private collections.