Rhonegletscher II

Glaciers and sea ice act as a protective shelter for the planet, reflecting excess heat back to space and keeping the temperature cooler. The Rhône Glacier is one of the most famous alpine glaciers and an attraction for travelers since the 19th century. As a result of global warming, the glacier retreated dramatically between 2011 and 2016. In 2018, the Carlen Family who manages the ice grotto decided to cover a part of the glacier with a white fleece blanket which reflects the sunlight and slows down the melting process. Thomas Wrede has been studying and photographing the ice grotto since 2017, capturing with his images the dying of a glacier as well as the futility of humans trying to halt climate change. The weathering of the synthetic blankets and the contradictions that it involves are also of interest for the artist as they release microplastics into the environment and the natural with the artificial—a body of ice and particles of plastic—find themselves in a form of an unavoidable symbiosis.