ICE: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers celebrates the exquisite beauty of remote Arctic and alpine landscapes at the same time as it reveals how climate change is profoundly altering our world. For more than 30 years, Colorado photographer James Balog has addressed human modification of our planet’s natural systems, breaking new ground in his employment of fine art photography to draw attention to natural beauty, instill knowledge and inspire change.
These magnificent photographs have been selected from the extensive photographic archives of the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS). Founded in 2007 by Balog, the EIS is an innovative, long-term photography program that integrates art and science to give a “visual voice” to the planet’s changing ecosystems. EIS imagery preserves a visual legacy, providing a unique baseline — useful in years, decades and even centuries to come — for revealing how climate change and other human activity impacts the planet. EIS is a program of the Earth Vision Institute.
Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey team are featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, Emmy® award-winning documentary Chasing Ice, and in the 2009 NOVA special Extreme Ice. The artist has been honored with many awards, including, in recent years, an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta, the American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society, the Duke University LEAF Award, the Sam & Julie Walters Prize for Environmental Activism, the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) League Award, and the Heinz Award. Balog is the author of ICE: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers and seven other books. His photos have been extensively published in major magazines, including National Geographic, and exhibited at more than 100 museums and galleries worldwide. In 2009, Balog served as a NASA representative at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP-15) in Copenhagen.
ICE: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers is hosted by the Fine Arts Center in collaboration with Colorado College. The exhibition includes 15 magnificent large-scale color photographs, a time-lapse video, and an array of interpretive materials. James Balog will present a screening of his film Chasing Ice and a lecture “The Art of Chasing Ice”, the 2015 Timothy C. Linnemann Memorial Lecture at Colorado College on April 20.