Each Ice Watch belongs to a growing series of negative space drawings made with glacial 'flour' on glass watch faces. Glacial flour is the remains of rock ground down by glacial action, turned to sediment left by retreating glaciers. The light passes though the unmarked areas, casting a shadow of absence on the wall / surface around the work.  The shadowy absent-presence of the images cast by the dust and light recalls not only the absence of the ice retreated from these areas, but also the impossible  ideal of sublime imaginary that these mountain vistas evoke.  

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Images and sediment were gathered during field work visit to sites where glacial archaeology has been found in the Swiss alps  during residency at Musée d’art du Valais (2023). “Ice Watcher” is the name for the app used by the canton to report discoveries of human artefacts revealed by melting ice. The title plays on the double meaning of ‘watch’ - recalling both time a piece and the act of observation. This etymological convergence neatly summarised by philosopher Timothy Morton “ice is melting and time is running out” (Morton, Being Ecological 2018, p56). 

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Ice watch is part of the wider Emergency project. 

 

 

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