Time Sensitive

I visit my glacier friends in Alaska every year. Each time, I see their bodies rapidly disappearing. The speed of this change is no longer what we once considered as 'deep time'. 'Time Sensitive' is a series of attempts to compress and decompress time.

Cyanotype on fabric.

This sun print captures the melting trajectory of glacier ice. Surround the ice are plants and animals uniquely inhabiting the island after glacier melts — the fireweed that first bloom when glaciers retreat, the arctic birds that are on the edge of extinction. This sun print captures a moment of transformation and serves as a visual documentation of the ecosystem that thrive in these transient habitats, revealing the profound and lasting impacts of glacial retreat.

Collaborator: Glaciologist Ginny Catania and Ice Dynamics Lab

In front of the glaciers, I draw them on rocks using the melted glacier river. The sun continuously evaporates my painting. I chase time to draw, while the glaciers in my painting keep disappearing.