Gail LeBoff “Glacier Girls”
RALPH PUCCI (new york)
November 2025
RALPH PUCCI (new york) presents “Glacier Girls” by Gail LeBoff, a photography series a decade in the making. "Glacier Girls" exposes the shared vulnerabilities between the young skater and the Arctic landscape, featuring simple compositions of singular figure skaters layered within stark, natural environments that belie the extraordinary conditions LeBoff encounters in pursuit of her images.
LeBoff’s early experiences as an aspiring competitive figure skater, along with a hearing loss from birth, inform the quiet sense of isolation that runs through her work. She describes “Glacier Girls” as deeply personal, shaped by her memories of childhood and the lost dream of becoming a figure skater.
The idea for “Glacier Girls” evolved intuitively, by happenstance, when she saw a young skater, at Rockefeller Skating Rink, fall and try to regain her balance. “I was captivated by her struggle and the casting shadow of her body on the ice,” LeBoff explains. She went on to shoot skaters anonymously while simultaneously photographing in the extreme weather of the Icelandic terrain. “My work is not that dissimilar to the nature photographer waiting for the animal for days, it takes a lot of patience. There are a lot of people I see skating who aren’t right, and then I see a person whose movement or hands are just right and it’s the same thing with the weather. I can’t force it, I can only force myself to be there.”
LeBoff first traveled to Iceland in 2011 in search of landscapes to pair with the existing images of New York figure skaters. With the help of local guides, she discovered glacier lakes and ice sheets that were often accessible only by plane or long drives from Reykjavík. She relied on webcams to monitor weather conditions and returned to the same sites repeatedly, photographing them in changing light and atmosphere. Locals became familiar with her persistence, as she often worked in extreme weather which closed roads and required her to anchor her equipment against the wind.
Laki Lava Girl
Laki Lava Girl
For Laki Lava Girl, the figure skater was photographed in New York six years before LeBoff’s visit to the Laki lava fields, considered one of the largest eruption sites inhistory. When she reached the site, LeBoff waited six days for snowfall to transform the volcanic terrain into the composition she envisioned.
Nordic Pink
Nordic Pink
To create Nordic Pink, LeBoff and her beau Einar drove to Skógafoss to photograph the frozen waterfall, only to find the base and surrounding area flooded after heavy rain and snow. An ice sheet had formed across the river, solid but inaccessible. The next day, equipped with waders and ice cleats, they returned and crossed through the frigid water. Once on the ice sheet, Einar helped lift her up to begin shooting. As snow began to fall, she worked quickly to capture the scene while Einar photographed her in action.
LeBoff often works in rapidly changing conditions, drawn to the unpredictability and drama of Iceland’s weather. She describes this tension as central to her practice: the mood and mystery of the landscape compel her to work despite the challenges and risks involved.
Gail LeBoff says, “I bring all of my history to my work, it’s a part of me. And I was drawn to Iceland, suggested by artist friends who knew I was looking for more moody environments, because it reminded me of my childhood, staring out of the windows daydreaming as the weather changed. That’s really the theme of my work, the lost dream of being a figure skater and how that loss has haunted me.”
Ralph Pucci says, “We’re honored to showcase Gail’s “Glacier Girls” at RALPH PUCCI. Her work captures not only the majesty of nature but the emotional endurance behind creation. There is a quiet power and grace in every image.”
RALPH PUCCI International
RALPH PUCCI (new york)
44 W. 18th St. New York, NY 10011
212-633-0452
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ABOUT RALPH PUCCI
RALPH PUCCI International is known for its luxury furniture and lighting. Established as a family business by Nick and Lee Pucci in 1954, the company began as a mannequin repairs business, before Nick and Lee’s son Ralph encouraged his parents to begin fabricating unique mannequins in collaboration with artists, which went on to achieve great acclaim. The furniture chapter began in 1989 when French interior designer Andrée Putman created a mannequin and then urged Pucci to represent her furniture in the US. Today, RALPH PUCCI International is one of the most exciting galleries of the world, exhibiting the work of boundary-pushing artists and designers and expanding across America with galleries in New York, Los Angeles, a new Miami location which opened in 2023, and London pop-up from September 2022-November 2023.
ABOUT Gail LeBoff
Gail LeBoff was born in Brooklyn, NY. She began her studies at The School of Visual Arts and went on to receive her B.A. and M.A. in Photography from New York University. She is the recipient of the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award. Her work has been exhibited extensively and is in many collections such as the Harvard Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, New York Public Library, Coca Cola Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts in Los Angeles.