Melting Heart

About the dramatic melting of glaciers

In 1674 the ice came all the way down at the foot of a village in the Swiss Aletsch region. The people, afraid for their existence, loved catholic rituals to request the heavens to stop it growing from the glaciers. Mid 1800 was the peak, the glacier on her largest, then the retreat of the ice began. Now it melts Aletsch Glacier, the largest and longest of the Alps, so hard that they will be gone in 70 years. 70 years, a lifetime.

Diewke van den Heuvel is a photographer and artist and says about it:

“My 11-year-old son is going to experience this. There will be another farewell ceremony in 2019 held for the complete melting of the Pizol Glacier, to the east from Switzerland. The process of climate change is a conceptual one understanding for a lot of people, it’s incomprehensible while on this moment the consequences are felt throughout Europe. When I studied Geography, global warming was also one conceptual understanding for me, it only became tangible and understandable when I literally had to go meters further every year with a guide every step of the way ice caves of the glacier. From the first moment I have been touched by the glacier, the grandeur of this natural phenomenon. I would really like to share this with others to feel the enormous importance to make. A poetic imagination for generations to come.”

Language: Dutch, English and Swiss.