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Indiana University hosts Arctic images by nature photographer James Balog

'Chasing Ice' exhibition currently on display at Hodge Hall; lecture, film screening planned in February

• Jan. 22, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Striking photographs that show the effect of climate change on the Arctic are on display at Hodge Hall at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington. The exhibition is in connection with a week of related activities in February.

“Changing Ice, Changing Climate: Photographs by James Balog and the Extreme Ice Survey” presents a series of photographs and videos collected by the nature photographer in multiple expeditions to the Arctic that are highlighted in the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Chasing Ice.”

The Extreme Ice Survey is an innovative, long-term project that merges art and science to give a “visual voice” to the planet’s changing climate. A selection of images from the survey, documenting the beauty and power of arctic glaciers, is on display in the exhibition through the end of March. The photographic exhibition is accompanied by time-lapse video, demonstrating in graphic form the changes that have taken place at three glaciers from Alaska, Greenland and Iceland, from 2007 to 2014.

The exhibition and several campus events in February, including a public lecture by Balog and a screening of the film “Chasing Ice,” are part of SustainIU Week, Feb. 16 to 20 on the IU Bloomington campus. The events are sponsored through a collaboration of the IU Office of Sustainability with IU Cinema, the Center for Integrative Photographic Studies, College Arts & Humanities Institute, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Geological Sciences, the Integrated Program in the Environment, the Kelley School of Business and the Indiana Memorial Union Board. During his two-day residency at Indiana University, Balog will visit classes and interact with faculty and student groups.

“For many of us, it is hard to visualize and personally experience how our actions are rapidly changing remote environments like arctic glaciers,” said Jeff White, director of the Integrated Program in the Environment and an arctic scientist. “James Balog’s stunning photography helps transport us there. The experience is both wonderful and deeply disconcerting.”

Balog has examined global environmental change for three decades. The Extreme Ice Survey has provided visual evidence, unprecedented in the history of photography, of how climate change is altering the earth’s polar and alpine landscapes. Since 2007, the survey has gathered more than 1 million images bearing witness to the retreat of glaciers in the U.S., Antarctica, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, France, Iceland, Greenland and Nepal. The work continues indefinitely.

Balog will discuss his work in a public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union. The award-winning documentary “Chasing Ice” will be screened at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at the IU Cinema, followed by a discussion with Balog and IU Cinema director Jon Vickers.

Related Links

• IU Bloomington Office of Sustainability