Weather Eye

Casey, Sarah (2025) Weather Eye. [Artefact]

Abstract

Weather Eye is a pair negative space drawings of glacial sites in Switzerland, made with glacial 'flour' on optician’s lenses. The are an outcome of the Emergency! research project which explores new ways to think about glacial melt by looking at what emerges as a result. Here the residue of a glacier ( glacial flour) is used to cast a shadow of these glacial environments, making a shadowy image of a view, which buy the time the work is made, is already a thing of the past. The work was awarded second prize in the international John Ruskin Prize competition 2025 and was exhibited amongst other shortlisted works at Trinity Buoy Wharf London from 16th -26th January 2025. Weather Eye is part of the Ice Watch series of work using rock flour on glass lenses. This glacial flour is the remains of rock ground down by glacial action, deposited by retreating glaciers. Light passes though the dusty residue, casting a shadow of glaciated landscapes as seen while artist in residence at Musée d’ Art du Valais in 2023 - views now already a thing of the past due to climate change. The shadowy absent-presence of the images recalls not only the absence of the ice retreated from these areas, but also the impossible ideal of the sublime imaginary that these mountain vistas evoke – somewhere other, out of reach, elsewhere. However, unlike the dreamy nineteenth century romanticism that such views might evoke, here lies a quiet critique, a suggestion of the need to look and pay attention to the world in change, using our hands to draw and our eyes to look. The handle of the optician’s lens might invite the viewer to bring the glass to their own eye or explore how the shadowy images are changed by their own small movements.