Lena C. Emery: The Mountains Between Us
“Once proud sentinels of the enduring bond between earth and sky, glaciers across the world have come to exist as monuments to a shifting narrative.”
– Lena C. Emery
With her project, The Mountains Between Us, artist Lena C. Emery highlights the accelerated loss of mountain glaciers and the desperate conservation efforts currently employed to impede their decline.
Lena C. Emery is a London-based artist whose work is underscored by a re-imagination of the symbiotic exchange between humanity and nature. Her exhibition of The Mountains Between Us, hosted in partnership with Tekla, highlights the devastating impact of greenhouse gases on glaciers while raising support for ClientEarth, one of the world's most ambitious environmental organisations who force action on fossil fuel infrastructure – a major contributor to glacier decline.
Warming at about twice the rate of the global average, glaciers in the Swiss Alps are on track to disappear by 2050. In 2021, Emery set out to document the Rhône Glacier, which environmentalists have draped in a unique geotextile in an attempt to slow its melting. Once the greatest glacier in Europe, today it faces the inevitable fate of disappearing – a prospect predicted for two-thirds of all glaciers by the end of this century. The resulting body of work exposes the glacier’s vulnerable beauty as a symbol of our environmental plight.
Through a video installation focused on the growing formation of a proglacial lake, alongside sculptures symbolising debris left in the wake of glacial decline and imagery capturing the desperate efforts to mitigate this loss, Emery brings attention to this critical issue.
Melting glaciers are directly linked to the heating of the planet. The amount of harmful emissions released into the Earth’s atmosphere will decide how serious the impact is.
ClientEarth actively tackles the climate and environmental crisis by using the law to force action on fossil fuel infrastructure. ClientEarth works in partnership across borders, systems and sectors, using the law to protect all life on Earth. Through legal interventions, strategic communications and advocacy, they find positive and practical solutions to address climate change, protect biodiversity, stop pollution and fight for environmental justice.
From contributing to shutting down coal plants to holding companies liable for their impact on the planet, and protecting natural habits – every action they take is aimed at shaping a healthier, sustainable world for generations to come.
Tekla entered into an ongoing partnership with ClientEarth in 2022, based on a shared desire for systemic change. In supporting ClientEarth’s critical work, Tekla places its resources where they can have a greater impact.
ClientEarth’s funding is purely from individuals and non-government foundations, meaning they can focus on the cases that will have the best impact on the planet, set a precedent in climate litigation, and secure people’s livelihoods and rights.
What is done by 2030 will impact what happens by 2050 and beyond. But ClientEarth needs support to bring about meaningful and lasting change. Donations help to ensure this vital work continues. Support ClientEarth today.
The Mountains Between Us by Lena C. Emery is on display 25-27 April 2024 at Frieze No. 9 Cork Street. Visit the exhibition.
