Julia Calfee

A Glacier's Requiem

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Multimedia artist Julia Calfee dedicated months living underneath the Länta glacier, Switzerland, at 2,100 meters above sea level in rudimentary conditions to understand and preserve as an archive the images and sounds of the melting glaciers which she could touch as they disappeared before her eyes. The result of these months of work was over 300 audio recordings and thousands of black and white photographs.
The final selection of images transcends the subject to portray, in an abstract manner, the elements of this constantly changing nature.
Equally powerful are her audio recordings which she edited, sequenced, and presents in the form of a vinyl record.
A Glacier’s Requiem, exquisitely designed and presented, is both a visual and audio monument to the ice giants of this world. A short documentary is available on www.vimeo.com/juliacalfee and YouTube.
Her previously published books include Inside: The Chelsea Hotel (2008), Spirits and Ghosts (2003) and Photogeneses/Têtes (1995).

Julia Calfee – an artist whose media is photography, video, audio-recordings and writing – has spent most of her professional life living and working in Europe and Asia. She majored in art history at the Sorbonne, Paris. Her projects are always long term as she seeks to understand and portray what goes on beneath the apparent reality. Her work has been shown in museums and galleries in France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Singapore and the USA. Her books which have been published and distributed internationally, include Photogeneses / Têtes – Foundation Miro (1995), Mountain Spirits of Mongolia (2002) Spirits and Ghosts (2003) and Inside the Chelsea Hotel (2008). Her most recent work A Glacier’s Requiem consists of a close-up black and white photography of glacier forms, with writings, compositions and poems from well known composers and poets. Recordings of the last glacier songs will be presented in a 12” vinyl record with the art book, published by Kehrer Verlag.

Die Multimedia-Künstlerin Julia Calfee lebte monatelang unter einfachsten Bedingungen auf 2.100 Metern ü. M. am Fuß des schweizerischen Länta-Gletschers – sie wollte die Bilder und Töne der schmelzenden Gletscher verstehen und archivieren, die unter ihren Händen und vor ihren Augen verschwanden. Das Ergebnis dieser mehrmonatigen Arbeit waren mehr als 300 Tonaufnahmen und Tausende von Schwarz-Weiß-Fotos. Calfees letztendliche Bildauswahl transzendiert das Thema: Sie porträtiert auf abstrakte Weise die Bestandteile dieser sich stets wandelnden Natur. Ebenso kraftvoll sind ihre Tonaufnahmen, die sie editiert und neu aneinandergereiht in Form einer Vinyl-Schallplatte präsentiert. Außergewöhnlich ausgestattet und gestaltet, ist A Glacier’s Requiem ein einzigartiges Bild- und Tondenkmal für die Eisriesen dieser Welt. Ein Dokumentarfilm über seine Enstehung ist auf http://www.vimeo.com/juliacalfee und auf YouTube zu sehen.
Zu Calfees bisher erschienenen Büchern gehören Inside: The Chelsea Hotel (2008), Spirits and Ghosts (2003) und Photogeneses/Têtes (1995).