Climate change is the one global issue that should unite the world due to the very real fact it’s happening right now and affects us all. Unfortunately, despite overwhelming evidence, this isn’t always the case, with some countries carrying on business as usual as the planet strains under the increasing pressure placed on it. Thankfully awareness among the global community is at an all-time high with people taking direct action to try and convince world leaders that this is one issue that won’t just go away.
A new exhibition set to go on show at the Horniman Museum from Saturday is shining a light on the devastating impact of the climate crisis through photographs and artworks that document the vanishing of the world’s glaciers. Unlike wildfires or flooding, the melting of glaciers takes place outside of weather patterns and can be attributed directly to global warming, making them a key indicator of the impact of climate change.
Created by climate crisis charity Project Pressure, MELTDOWN: Visualizing the Climate Crisis, includes 63 artworks ranging from vintage postcards and lightboxes to large-scale photographic installations, all taken from over ten years of research expeditions (from Iceland to India, Iran and Uganda), undertaken by artists commissioned to investigate the disappearance of glaciers in every continent in collaboration with science and research teams.
Works include artist Peter Funch’s use of vintage postcards to capture the effects of glacial recession in America; Norfolk + Thymann’s images the Rhône glacier covered in geothermal cloth to limit melting; Noémie Goudal’s large-scale gradually disintegrating photographic installation showing the changing landscape of the Swiss Alps and Richard Mosse’s photography of the ice cave under the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland.
The exhibition finishes with a touchscreen carbon footprint calculator which asks visitors to estimate the carbon-intensity of their lifestyle and can track their impact over a longer-term online.
Nick Merriman, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum and Gardens said: ‘We are honoured to host the UK premiere of this important exhibition. The Horniman has long been concerned with environmental issues and the impact of human activity on our world and in July 2019 we declared an ecological and climate emergency, pledging to place carbon reduction and environmental issues at the heart of our work.
The exhibition aims to use art to inspire action and behavioural change. Which is why we encourage all of you to visit.
MELTDOWN: Visualizing the Climate Crisis, at the Horniman Museum runs from 23 November to 12 January 2020
For more info visit: www.projectpressure.org
Or check them out on Instagram: @projectpressure
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