Climate Artists

Enzo Barracco
Inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton, photographer Enzo Barracco set out to capture the majesty and fragility of Antarctica through his project, "The Noise of Ice."
TRANSCRIPT
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When you are in the wilderness place, like in Antarctica,
you feel like the time expand.
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To catch this beauty, you need to work in a symbiosis
with nature because when you work in the studio,
you organize everything,
but in the nature, it's totally the opposite.
Every plan you make, you actually need to very fast
because like the landscape adjusts form very quickly,
so you know need to really, like,
catch that with all your sense.
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Go at little bit in this way. Back, back, back in this way.
I was actually a fashion photographer for many years
and a incredible privilege to work with amazing company,
giving me the opportunity to travel around the world,
but definitely, the moment I changed
to develop a project about sustainability
was when I read about Shackleton.
Ernest Shackleton was like a very famous explorer
100 years ago.
What happened to him was like an astronaut
to go to space and he lost his space shuttle,
and he manages to come back.
So this is an extraordinary story,
and his incredible desire to adventure and to never give up
inspired me to make my own project in Antarctica.
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Traveling in Antarctica was an incredible experience.
I remember like that from Ushuaia, South America,
we cross the passage of the Drake
and this is like the most wide ocean in the world,
because two mouths of the ocean collide in the one point.
You witness during this crossing
the shape of the energy.
What's incredible, it was like a cross like a gate.
You feel at the edge of the world,
and when you arrive in this imaginary line,
the temperature drop super drastically,
and you feel you are totally far in a very remote place.
And immediately you realize also
our responsibility for our planet.
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"The Noise of Ice," the title, come because, like,
during the expedition,
immediately I feel a sensation of a very...
a little bit of fear,
and more closer I was, the more fear start.
The time that we moved from the glaciers,
everything flew down on the top of us.
It start a massive wave.
So the noise I hear,
that was the most terrible noise I have heard in my life,
the most strong and most powerful noise,
so this is why I come out with "The Noise of Ice."
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In my work, in particular in the collection of Antarctica,
of course, like, the very big topic
is a sea level rise.
Antarctica basically is like the big weather control
in the world and influences the sea level rise globally.
And my book is an ambassador to communicate that.
It's an evidence what is the climate changing now.
Because I really believe that photography
also is the perfect tool,
because photography don't need the translation.
Photography arrive where words don't arrive.
So it's perfect for to have an action about this
in this particular moment.
The ice, as you can see, is totally stable,
and you know, I open my work also up like to remember
as how beautiful we are, how beautiful our planet is,
you know, and we need to protect this.
After I come back from Antarctica,
I was privileged enough to understand what Antarctica is,
and Antarctica influences massively,
like, all of the oceans in the world,
all the wind in the world,
and, of course, the sea level rise globally.
So it is a key place to understand
the balance of the world.
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My new project is about the Galápagos.
My focus is about ocean now, and I shoot the Galápagos
because I think it's a perfect ambassador
to communicate what is climate change now
and what the ocean face at the moment.
And also, like, this is why we are here today
at the FIT, Fashion Institute of Technology,
because I create a collaboration with the chair,
Jonathan Kyle Farmer.
Basically we create like a body of work
to inspire new fashion designers to be more sustainable
inspired by the Galápagos collection.
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So my work is I try to unlock this message
in a very honest way and try to inspire people
to have like a different attitude with nature,
and create like a social change desperately now we need.
And I hope maybe through my work,
people engage in a different way to nature
and aspire to have more curiosity,
aspire to have more surprise,
and to engage in new dialog for the nature.
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