The last snowball
TRANSITIONAL STATES IN THE MELTING ALPS
This work in progress from my Masters is about liminal states, an inbetweenness where I believe we find ourselves intellectually and emotionally. I believe that we need to break free from hierarchical dualism, from dividing the world in two, and realise that life is more complex and its systems more entangled. These images are about relearning being in my home environment - a ski resort in Switzerland - collaborating and listening to other entities.
Statement
“Changing our minds is going to be a big change. To use the world well, to be able to stop wasting our time in it we need to relearn our being in it.” Ursula Le Guin
The Last Snowball takes the joyful image of a snowball and expands it to consider the effects of climate change on a Swiss Alpine environment. In a series of entangled image processes, it moves through the cycles of the mountain and considers the challenge that climate change poses to the way that we think. By turning towards matter, to the nonhuman, and listening deeply to what it has to say, I examine the Swiss relationship to the landscape.
It is increasingly clear that we need to listen to the land, as James Bridle suggests, to find new ways of being that break with the binaries of current thinking. It is dualistic thinking that has allowed us to perceive the nonhuman—material and natural entities—as resources for our growth and pleasure. We use the mountains as a playground with little responsibility for the environmental impact.
I engage with the natural world at a time of transition, mixing technical images with natural processes. I document the life of the mountain to create a dialogue with the world that is rooted in a deep love and respect for the Swiss landscape where I live, and which seeks to dispel the hierarchies between the human and the nonhuman, allowing both their voice.
