Ice Watch (Langsgletcsher) belongs to a series of negative space drawings on glass watch faces made with glacial flour (sediment left by retreating glaciers). They are the outcome of exploring materiality that is produced from a process of disappearance or erasure, an enquiry that uses languages of drawing and sculpture to critically engage the idea of ‘emergency’ as something that breaks forth in a time of crisis (Solnit 2016).

Images and sediment were gathered during field work visit to sites of retreating glaciers in the swiss alps where glacial archaeology has been found 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. A convergence neatly summarized by philosopher Timothy Morton “ice is melting and time is running out” (Morton, Being Ecological 2018, p56).

The image is produced as ight 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.

The work is exhibited in Creative Freedom at The John Muir Trust 18 March -25 May 2024.

Ice watch is part of the wider Emergency project.