Still roaming around in an anthropocentric world view, it has become inevitable that we rethink and reshape human behavior with the many forms of co-existences on this planet – if we want it to flourish in the long term. We are part of a complex, interwoven network; We do not have to “go back to nature” – expressions like this just demonstrate how distorted our view is. We are not disconnected – we have never not been part of this web. What we have to do is become aware of it. There is no passive background; every form of existence shapes and influences the reality we experience. Every existence has some kind of liveliness in it, no matter whether its influence is intentional or not. Or, as Bruno Latour puts it: Being a subject doesn’t mean acting autonomously on an objective frame but sharing ones impact with other subjects. 

One of these subjects are glaciers. Being visual climate thermometers, they are usually portrayed and talked about from that perspective. This book project examines the many ways of glacial expression, the diverse shapes and colors they assume, how they influence their surroundings and how they mingle with it. Swiss photographer JULIAN STETTLER looks at glaciers as living beings, as active protagonists in the web of reality. Glaciers are born out of the permanent metamorphosis from snow to ice. They are uniquely dynamic; viscous and brittle at the same time. From the human perspective, we can only ever perceive slices of them; they exist in a different time dimension, so vastly different that it goes beyond human grasp. With bacteria and algae teeming on their backs, they make their way down. 

The main part of the fascinating book contains 90 abstract glacier photographs, as well as a 14-page poem by poet, artist and writer  Daniela Naomi Molnar. In addition, three texts by journalist, researcher, poet Anne-Sophie Balzer, Gian-Luca Kämpfen (landscape architect) and David Touchette (microbiologist) will be part of the book. 

The photographs were taken between 2021 and 2023  on twelve Swiss glaciers. 

Julian Stettler

THE GLACIER IS A BEING
ISBN 978-3-906822-51-8
220mm x 297mm
bound, with folded wrap-around cover
144 pages
90 images
designed by Alessia Meyer