On the side of nature: Antarctic glaciers melting in front of Paola Marzotto's lens

On board the icebreaker Irizar, Antarctica is not just a distant landscape; it is a silent cry, a whisper that grows ever fainter, as the once eternal ice melts before the eyes of those who dare to listen. Italian photographer Paola Marzotto , camera in hand, has captured the fleeting splendour of these vast, desolate glaciers in a series now brought together in the exhibition in Aurora, Antarctica, Melting Beauty , offering a window onto a world that is disappearing at an unstoppable speed, climate crisis amidst.

The images in the series do not operate as a reflection of nature, but rather as an urgent testimony of the time we have left to change the course of our history. The exhibition, curated by Pablo La Padula , brings together 20 almost mystical images, taken by Marzotto during his expedition to Antarctica in 2023, during the southern lights.

“In the struggle between man and nature, I decided to take part in nature, in creation,” Marzotto told Clarín Cultura . “A very strong awareness made me see humanity in all its poverty of spirit, as a cursed race, a failed experiment of some god.”

And he adds: “My motivation to make art comes from a quasi-psychedelic record of the beauty , richness and magic of nature in its most intimate and smallest details and the desire to give this look to others. I try to show the miracle of creation, that last fragile frontier of nature. Even when I began to form a group of photographers, which I brought together at Eye-V Gallery, this group was born with the idea of ​​showing earthly paradise without man, as it will probably be again one day.”

At five in the morning, Paola Marzotto woke up every day on board the Irizar to capture from the deck the fleeting moment when the aurora dyed the sky pink over the Antarctic ice. Armed with her camera, she recorded the magic of a mystical landscape, knowing that this moment of just fifteen minutes is a luxury that few witness. The images taken of isolated ice islands, remains of what were once majestic icebergs melted due to the effects of climate change, today show their beauty in different shades of pink, blue and violet, reinforced in the room by very dim spot lighting.

The result is magical. According to Pablo La Padula in his curatorial text, “the exhibition places the viewer before the sublime, like a bridge to the deep time of life, the original. Paola Marzotto’s photographs evoke a pictorial beauty of the remote. These images suggest a gesture of profound humility: to stop, observe and connect with the most essential of existence in a landscape that still remains intact.”

Marzotto does not consider herself an environmentalist. “I am an activist by nature, a passionate person. When I believe in a cause, I take it as a mission. I respect Greta Thunberg and Leonardo Di Caprio a lot, but I have a different personal history,” she concludes.

The landscape of irrecoverable beauty, as evident in these photographs, reminds us of the responsibility we share in protecting our most vulnerable environment. In Marzotto's view, Antarctica is not only revealed as a distant paradise, but also as "a call to action before it is too late."

PaRDeS - Il Giardino dell Eden is the title of the exhibition that Paola Marzotto shares with Nicola Costantino at Espacio Foto Arte, Punta del Este. Both share the same practice of exploring nature from a profound and evocative perspective. And through media such as photography and ceramics, they not only seek to capture its beauty, but also to generate reflection.

Paola Marzotto presents a series of images taken in the Singapore Gardens , where she captures the exuberance of the botanical gardens and the beauty of the orchids. She uses a special watercolor paper to print her photographs, which she gives a three-dimensionality that turns them into objects of contemplation.

For his part, Costantino presents his PaRDeS series, inspired by the Japanese nerikomi technique: through ceramic pieces that celebrate the natural elements of fire, earth and water, he seeks to capture the harmony between matter and beauty, inviting us to reflect on the fleeting nature of life and the value of the ephemeral.

Aurora. Antarctica, melting beauty can be visited at the Libertad Palace (Sarmiento 151) and the Ecopark (Av. Sarmiento and Las Heras). Free admission until April 20.

PaRDeS - The Garden of Eden can be visited from March 3 at Espacio Foto Arte Galería: Route 10 Km 166.100 and Street 6, Altos de Punta Piedras, Punta del Este, Uruguay.