Milk Lake Glacier - 30th Abstract Glacier Painting by Tatiana Iliina

Artist Documents the Disappearance of Disappearance 

Canadian artist Tatiana Iliina has created a growing collection of paintings that celebrate the fleeting beauty of an ecosystem in rapid transition.

From the Himalayas to the Rockies, from the Alps to the Andes, most glaciers around the world are receding every year.

If the glaciers themselves have become transitory objects, the period of receding for a glacier is as ephemeral as it gets.  In the tens of thousands of years of history any one glaciers may only recede across a certain stretch of ground only once. As the glacier retreats, a piece of the Earth that was permanently frozen in time sees the light for the first time in eons.

When the snow melts the following year, the land has only been covered for a few months. The situation is very limited in scope. There are only so many glaciers and each season of melt can only be seen once. Although there are still glaciers on the planet that should last for hundreds, if not thousands of years, the total number and volume of the glaciers is declining quickly. The receding ancient glacier will ultimately become a rare and incredible event.