“Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth”
Albert Schweitzer
The argument of nature’s resource exploitation and excavation, as well as the destruction and environmental devastation of landscapes, has long been one of high concern. However the environmental effects of this are not always so visible or apparent. The power of images has proven itself many times, through either activism or conservation photography in the style of photojournalism or documentation. Photography influences the viewer’s mind and teaches about the issues presented in the image – it is the idea that it portrays something real and therefore true, and inherently has the ability to document a perceived reality.
The series ‘Iceland’ is a prime example of the type of landscape documentary that is so fundamental to raising awareness about environmental degradation. Iceland is one of the fastest-warming places on the planet. The glaciers that cover more than 10 percent of the island are losing an average of 11 billion tons of ice a year. Driving around the south coast of Iceland, I have witnessed the immense retreat of glaciers, revealing only gravel for miles, creating a different kind of landscape: new black lava cliffs. Climate change is heavily affecting Iceland as it is rising due to the accelerated melting of ice caps, resulting in the uplifting from the Earth at a rate of up to 1.4 inches per year, causing more and more volcanic eruptions. [Official Website]
Through photographic documentation, I hope to reveal the immense beauty that is Iceland, so unique and other worldly, to raise awareness for this diminishing and ever-changing country.
About Elena Cremona
Elena Cremona was born in 1991 to an Italian father and a German mother, fortunate enough to have lived in Munich (Germany), Santa Cruz (California) and London (UK). She received a first class honours Bachelor Degree in Photography from the prestigious Arts University Bournemouth in 2015.
The content of her work centers around social documentary, environmental portraiture and landscape reportage; Often experimenting with a variety of abstract techniques in their formulation. Underlying notions within her work is the exploration of distant memories and the feeling of Nostalgia, as well as increasing problematic social and environmental issues such as the destruction of nature and its irreplaceable landscapes.
