Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger
Elemental Obsolescence 2018, Pigment print on archival photo paper 120 x 80 cm
Background image: Dissipation, 2017 (detail) by Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger
This photograph ice melting glacier Deception Island Antarctica exposes the gravity of the problem we face with global warming, this element of fresh water natural forming ice is under threat of extinction the scale of which we are yet to fathom.
Dissipation I - Livingston Island Glacier 2018, Digital image dye-sublimation on synthetic voile 110 x 200 cm x 5 (Image courtesy of Louise Gan)
As the squandering of our planet’s resources continues to gather speed Dissipation is a work that is a reminder of the places so hidden from our daily lives that we forget the catastrophic future that is looming beyond the melting polar regions.
Livingston Island is besieged by the fallout from Deception Island’s volcanic activity which smears the surface of centuries of glacial cumulation with constant reminders of not only the violence but the fragility of nature.
Livingston I Presume I, II, III 2017, 110 x 200cm
Livingston I Presume IV to IX 2017, 36 x 26 cm
Livingston I Presume, 2017
Photographic Images Livingston Island - Antarctica
This series of photographs explores the question of the colonialist idea of exploration. These images, taken of the Glacier at Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands Antarctica show the glacier through the view of the single lens of a pair of binoculars. So in essence a telescope, historically the vision of how all explorers see the visual beauty of a new discovery, before, climbing over all it so as, to then place a flag of ownership upon it.
These images work to create a dialogue that surrounds human interaction in our protected areas
Does the explorer/tourists need to stand beside the beauty in question and by doing so does this outweigh our duty to protect such pristine places?
Why is this the way we explore the sublime?
The title of these photographs reflect the colonialist explorer, however I question whether just because we can exploit the inaccessible areas of our planet does this mean we should?
Should these images be the way we see remote places such as this… at arm’s length never putting our foot on terra-firma?
NB: Each image is in its original space in the visual plane and has not been altered, the variation of placement is a reflection of the movement of the ship from which they were taken.