Artistic engagement with a deglaciating world

Artists, sometimes within activism, have produced work engaging with the timescales of glaciers, the environmental records stored inside them, their apparent remoteness, melting and its connection to human activities, as well as using the medium of ice in symbolic ways. By considering examples of how artists have worked with the theme of the ongoing deglaciation of Earth and its consequences, I showcase some ways in which artistic interventions have the power to raise awareness and translate scientific knowledge into graspable reality.

Thereafter, I provide a personal reflection of working at the interface of science and art in my own work as a glaciologist and as a practicing artist exploring properties of natural ice: I show a selection of my projects from recent years, in which I attempted to tackle the topics of human responsibility and choices; potential misplacement of ecological grief; and irreversibility through the lens of natural ice on Earth. Using these works as examples I discuss the extent to which integrating artistic and scientific research influences my practice of both.