Artist Statement
The “Cracks in the Ice” project was inspired by my 15-year-old son, Björn. During one of our many daily chats, he asked about Climate Change and what the world will look like in the future. I realized I had only murky visions of that future myself and could not give him a clear answer. His precarious start in life and surgeries makes him crave stability. As a father, I hated that I could not provide much clarity for Björn and knew I needed to explore this idea with a photography project. “Cracks in the Ice” was born.
As I look to the future, the world that my son will inherit, and the forest where I live that may soon be on fire, climate change and the immediate impact on the environment constantly weighs on my mind. I thought about how scientists often look to the past to predict our future and decided to do my own research into historical images of glaciers. I curated a series of Magic Lantern educational glass slides to examine and consider. Each revealed a vintage photograph of glaciers, now disappearing or already gone. I shattered the glass negatives to call attention to this loss and fragility of our planet, but also to echo an experience with my newborn son’s first four months in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care or his 20 surgeries and six years of 120-hour-a-week home nursing. Cracks in the Ice is a metaphor for the precariousness and vulnerability of those I love. It is also a way to speak to the profound loss from global warming and a planet under siege.
About Jason Lindsey
Jason Lindsey is a Midwest-based photographer and filmmaker working to interpret science and the human impacts and relationship to the natural world. Lindsey considers himself a poetic activist using his art to drive social change.
Lindsey received his BA in Fine Art from Illinois State University. Lindsey has a 20-year career in advertising and editorial photography with a continued focus on Fine Art Photography. Photo assignments have taken him from the jungles of the Amazon, the Glaciers of Iceland, the Wilds of Alaska, and the waters of Belize. Lindsey is currently the Artist in Residence at Prairie Rivers Network and has photographs in a United Nations Climate Change and the Climate Museum exhibit in New York City and another United Nations exhibit in Paris.
Has been featured in PDN, Communication Arts, and Archive Magazine and was named on of the top 200 Advertising Photographers Worldwide in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Lindsey’s book “Windy City Wild: Chicago’s Natural Wonders” was published by Chicago Review Press.
