These pieces consist of illuminated glass set into aluminum masses; in this way they could be thought of as members of series Empurologia. Empurologia grew out of my Arctic trip on Canada’s largest icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent, and my observations of young sea ice in autumn. These pieces are also trip-derived, but from a very different icescape. They address very different ice formations, with therefore very different implications.
More InformationAs mentioned in the Greenland introduction, what happens at the base of these captivating features at the intersection of ice and bedrock is scientifically still somewhat of a mystery. This leaves the imagination delightfully free to roam at will. Metaphorically, the concept of something seemingly easily comprehensible— a supraglacial meltwater river— just disappearing into the unknown has parallels in our collective and individual grasp of much in our human and natural surroundings. We should never assume that our understandings are complete no how much they seem so: around the next bend they could just drop out of sight, leaving us mystified on the surface.