The series “Monuments” reflects a relationship between technological evolution and climate change. Collecting images of glaciers taken in the early 20th century, Douglas Mandry transferred them onto actual pieces of geotextile, which have themselves been brought down from the Alps after a season on the ice. Through the antique process of lithography, a double-exposure phenomenon occurs: the images, fading memories of Switzerland‘s golden age of tourism, become a part of today’s technological attempts to preserve the past which no longer exists.
Meanwhile, Douglas Mandry travelled deep into the Swiss Alps, collecting pieces of ice protected by man-made geotextile fabrics. The blocks of ice are inserted into a self-made large format camera containing photo sensitive color paper. Using specific aperture shutters pierced in the wooden camera, the light is conducted through the ice directly onto the paper. As an outcome, a trace of the melting ice left on the paper is developed in a dark room, sometimes several days later. Thereby the process of disappearance is recorded photographically.
With his series “Monuments” Douglas Mandry won the “Foam Talent Award 2020”. This distinction is awarded annually to 20 talents by the Foam Museum of Photography in Amsterdam and is one of the most prestigious awards for young photography artists.
Filmed and edited by Christian Felber, Motion Graphic Designer, Filmmaker
