Brigitte Moeckli: Winds of Climate Change...the Air You Breathe
During the last five years, I was taking photographs of moments in my life, when I felt and experienced the vulnerability of nature and of our planet. A sadness and hopelessness took my heart. I saw beautiful oak trees dying because the rain stopped falling for months in the Southern part of France, where I work in my atelier. The source where my water is coming from, dried out. I had to watch my plants die in the garden not only by lack of water but also by hot winds, burning plants, trying out the soil and ignite bushfires. The series Mistral captures the strong wind visually.
Watching and experiencing other signs of climate change, like the disappearance of the glaciers in the Swiss Alps and in Canada. The series Taku Icefield is a visual metaphor for this process. Hurricanes, Taifuns and flooding, the series Majuro is a visual metaphor for the process of rising sea levels. I became aware that being sad and without hope is no solution. Action is needed without time loss.
The series Atlantis shows an aquarium as a visual metaphor for what is left, when the water temperature of the oceans keep rising and the animals and plants of the sea don’t have enough oxygen to continue breathing. The Greek philosopher Plato describes the city of Atlantis as a prosperous and expansive island state, that sunk and was destroyed by a natural disaster. In comparison with his ideal state “Athene”, he warns the reader of the hypris of mankind. The third image of the series shows a hopeful solution. Like Plato demonstrates in his Kritias, dialogue between all parties, involved shaping the climate on our planet, is urgently needed. Only if we find personal, global and peaceful solutions, we can bring change to our world and our planet.
Helike is a series of photographs taken from the airplane. From high altitude the infrastructure of a city, like houses, roads, cars look very tiny and fragile. The image shows a weblike pattern of lights a wind could tear apart. Helike was a very wealthy city at the nordcoast of the Peloponnes in the Golf of Korinth, which was destroyed through a tidal wave in the year of 373 BC. The awareness of fragility and threat connects people. If we take a metaposition like looking from an airplane on to the earth, we can discover our relatedness and the beauty that lies in it.
The series Tropomi refers to the satellite of ESA monitoring trace gases and aerosols relevant for air quality and climate. The air quality is of high importance for our health and quality of life on earth. Poor air quality is not only the reason for climate change but also the reason for lung diseases and premature death. Clean air, like clean water should be a human right. The air you breathe is precious.
The photographs Paradise illustrate the beauty of trees. One tree absorbs more than 48 pounds of harmful carbon dioxide in one year from the atmosphere and release clean oxygen in exchange. Planting trees, protecting trees, woods, rainforests is harvesting clean air…the air you breathe.
All photographs are immediate expressions of the moment. They are not altered in color. To capture movement and transparence, technical experiments have been undertaken, with the overall goal to enhance the inherent transcendence of the moment. All works will be printed on high quality Hahnemühle paper.
Brigitte Moeckli 2023
Watching and experiencing other signs of climate change, like the disappearance of the glaciers in the Swiss Alps and in Canada. The series Taku Icefield is a visual metaphor for this process. Hurricanes, Taifuns and flooding, the series Majuro is a visual metaphor for the process of rising sea levels. I became aware that being sad and without hope is no solution. Action is needed without time loss.
The series Atlantis shows an aquarium as a visual metaphor for what is left, when the water temperature of the oceans keep rising and the animals and plants of the sea don’t have enough oxygen to continue breathing. The Greek philosopher Plato describes the city of Atlantis as a prosperous and expansive island state, that sunk and was destroyed by a natural disaster. In comparison with his ideal state “Athene”, he warns the reader of the hypris of mankind. The third image of the series shows a hopeful solution. Like Plato demonstrates in his Kritias, dialogue between all parties, involved shaping the climate on our planet, is urgently needed. Only if we find personal, global and peaceful solutions, we can bring change to our world and our planet.
Helike is a series of photographs taken from the airplane. From high altitude the infrastructure of a city, like houses, roads, cars look very tiny and fragile. The image shows a weblike pattern of lights a wind could tear apart. Helike was a very wealthy city at the nordcoast of the Peloponnes in the Golf of Korinth, which was destroyed through a tidal wave in the year of 373 BC. The awareness of fragility and threat connects people. If we take a metaposition like looking from an airplane on to the earth, we can discover our relatedness and the beauty that lies in it.
The series Tropomi refers to the satellite of ESA monitoring trace gases and aerosols relevant for air quality and climate. The air quality is of high importance for our health and quality of life on earth. Poor air quality is not only the reason for climate change but also the reason for lung diseases and premature death. Clean air, like clean water should be a human right. The air you breathe is precious.
The photographs Paradise illustrate the beauty of trees. One tree absorbs more than 48 pounds of harmful carbon dioxide in one year from the atmosphere and release clean oxygen in exchange. Planting trees, protecting trees, woods, rainforests is harvesting clean air…the air you breathe.
All photographs are immediate expressions of the moment. They are not altered in color. To capture movement and transparence, technical experiments have been undertaken, with the overall goal to enhance the inherent transcendence of the moment. All works will be printed on high quality Hahnemühle paper.
Brigitte Moeckli 2023
