Melting ice is regarded by some as the earth’s most reliable thermometer, with glaciologists warning that many of our magnificent glaciers are at risk of being lost forever. Against this backdrop, scientists contend that melting glaciers are the world’s ‘canary in the coalmine’, whose warning signals we ignore at our peril.

A key aim of the works presented in this exhibited is to draw attention to the threat the Anthropocene poses to the world’s glaciers with a particular focus on New Zealand’s beautiful glaciers–most of the 2700 of which are located in the Southern Alps. It is also intended as a ‘wake-up call’, and a ‘call to action’ notably to help overcome what awareness artist Thijs Biersteker calls an ‘imagination crisis’ and to envisage creative solutions for ensuring the protection of our natural world for future generations.

In his book The heat will kill you first: life and death on a scorched planet, US climate change journalist Jeff Goodell explains that ‘Extreme heat is an extinction force’, pointing out that all life (including microbes thriving in thermal vents)—and even things that are not alive (e.g., electronic devices, home appliances, rechargeable garden tools, lithium batteries, etc)—have a temperature limit. Against this backdrop, he invites his readers to imagine whatever they find beautiful and inspiring in the world, and then ‘take a good look at it now, because it might not be there for long’.

We need urgently to find solutions to protect our world’s beautiful ice sculptures before they disappear. It is hoped that the works in this exhibition (and the story they tell) will inform and inspire imaginative action to redress the status quo. The 33 works exhibited include renditions of New Zealand’s beautiful turquoise-coloured Lake Takapō, local iconic waterfalls, a braided river system, and various glacial features including glacial ablation, glacial furrowing, glacial retreat, barren zones, avalanches, and ice melts with ancient air bubbles escaping into water systems. The collection concludes with a mixed media work titled ‘Heat Wave 1’ highlighting the devasting effect that extreme heat is having on the world and invites all who view it to reflect on what each of us can do now—no matter how small—to protect and preserve the natural environment and all that rely on it for survival.