JASPER – A new photography exhibit is raising public awareness about the disappearing glaciers at the Columbia Icefield in honour of the United Nations International Year of Glacier Preservation.
“Meltdown: A Drop in Time” opened on May 15 and features 19 pieces from photographers Jim Elzinga and Roger Vernon at the Glacier Gallery inside the Icefield Centre, across the Icefields Parkway from the Athabasca Glacier on the southern end of Jasper National Park.
“It’s a way of connecting with people on a much more emotional level as a way of [encouraging] them to be curious about the changes and what they can do about it,” said Elzinga, who is also the founder and executive director of Guardians of the Ice.
Guardians of the Ice is a non-profit organization focused on the rapidly shrinking Columbia Icefield as a leading indicator of the worldwide climate crisis, with “Meltdown” being one of its initiatives.
As a longtime climber, Elzinga had done many ascents in and around the Columbia Icefield. During one of his climbing attempts on the western side of the icefield, he was struck by how much the glaciers were receding and how the lack of ice made the routes difficult to climb.
“And part of my background was [being] a photographer, and so I wanted to document the changes that were taking place,” he said.
The exhibit uses fine arts photography as a way of connecting with people to illustrate the beauty that is still there and the rapid changes taking place.
Elzinga and Vernon began working on this project in 2019, and with the help of Parks Canada, they utilized a helicopter for aerial photography. Other photos required multi-day expeditions into the backcountry.
The duo utilized medium format camera that allowed them to create large prints. The average size of one of their displayed prints is six by four feet, and one is over 10 feet long and five feet high.
The exhibit, which premiered at Banff’s Whyte Museum earlier this year, will be in residence at the Icefield Centre for at least three seasons. Parks Canada has renovated the Glacier Gallery and will be adding more interpretive information to complement the exhibit.
Elzinga said he hoped visitors would come away from their exhibit questioning their own practices and learn how to reduce their carbon footprint.
“Collectively, if we all do something little, it’s like a rain barrel: many raindrops will fill up a rain barrel,” he added. “And if we get many people doing small actions, then it can have quite a large effect.”
The short film, Losing Blue, will be screened in the gallery’s theatre. Created by Canmore filmmaker Leanne Allison, the film is described as “a cinematic poem that illuminates the impending loss of some of the most extraordinary blues on earth – the otherworldly blues of ancient mountain lakes.”
The Glacier Gallery will be open daily 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will close for the season on Oct. 15.
