Glacial Optics — Sierra Glacier Survey, 2024
Aerial ice lens photographs documenting glaciers of the Sierra Nevada.

When Spanish explorers first glimpsed distant peaks in California’s interior they called them Sierra Nevada, or “snowy mountains.”  But the icy namesakes of these peaks are rapidly disappearing.  According to a recent study published in Science Magazine, as much as half of the world’s alpine glaciers are projected to be melted within this century. Lyell Glacier, perhaps the most famous glacier in Yosemite, is expected to be completely gone within the next two decades.

These glaciers are not only essential to our watersheds and ecosystems, they are also fundamental parts of our cultural identity and history –emblematic of notions of natural splendor and the American West. As part of my ongoing Glacial Optics project, I used an ice lens camera to document the remaining Sierra glaciers from the air. 

This is part of my ongoing series Glacial Optics, exploring glacier ice as a literal and conceptual lens through with to understand ourselves and the world. In this work I explore the ‘gaze of the glaciers’ as offering a perspective beyond the human fame —invoking the glacier’s massive scale, its sense of deep time, and, increasingly in the face of climate change, its massive fragility.

This project was made possible by the Peter E Pool Fellowship at the Nevada Museum of Art, Center for Art + Environment, Reno with in-kind aerial support provided by Light Hawk. Special thanks to William L. Fox, Wayne Sayer, Betsy Daub, and Amanda Tennant.