Whilst there have been many amazing photographs illustrating the effects people have had on the world around them, some of the starkest and most impactful are a set of Timo Lieber prints that show the stark impact of climate change.
Timo Lieber is an aerial photography specialist who has produced some of the most captivating photographs of cityscapes and areas of natural beauty alike, but it was with his THAW collection that he not only managed to capture a previously untouched part of our world but highlighted humanity’s impact on it.
THAW was a collaboration with the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England, which provided the satellite photography that served as inspiration for his artistic endeavours.
They highlighted the increasing number of deep blue lakes that cracked open what should be a pristine white canvas, but when Mr Lieber reached the skies above the ice caps and saw the gaping arctic wounds he had a lot of evocative imagery to capture.
From a makeshift monochromatic mosaic made from the fragments of sheet ice to a lake that cleaved the Greenland ice cap in two, he created several abstract images, capturing less the locations and science behind these fragmenting glaciers but a more emotive abstract resonance.
However, his favourite and the one that perhaps captures the impact of climate change the most was one that resembles half of an eye amidst a cluster of tiny capillaries in the ice.
This image is a start look at the scale of impact on the ice caps, with a mournful, tear-strewn eye staring back at the observer, which highlights the beauty and fragility of our natural world, and the collective responsibility we share in protecting and preserving its beauty.
This is in contrast to many arctic photographs, which manage to capture that beauty but often miss the details and the story behind such a fascinating region, resulting in what Michael Benson of Photo London describes as “pretty confections”.