Patricia Carr Morgan

Your project I love you don’t leave me grew from photographing glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland. What first compelled you to turn those field images into an immersive installation rather than a traditional photo series?

Climate change was foremost in my mind, and for some time, I had been interested in doing an installation addressing that concern, but had not found the right path. After my trip to Antarctica, I was awestruck and knew what the focus would be, and I have continued working on it for the past ten years. I had been involved in another project at the time, but as soon as it was completed, I went to Greenland to photograph Arctic glaciers and icebergs. To learn about these images, I printed them in both color and black and white, focusing on the vast landscapes as well as the subtle details. I treasure the beauty of these images, but in the back of my mind, the possibilities of an immersive installation were being explored. As an installation artist, fully engaging the viewer is my utmost concern. I believe the viewer’s physical motion plays a role in shaping their cognition, and therefore, both the size and shape of the installation were crucial. I wanted to share my experience of unexpected awe and the sharp sense of loss I was feeling. Looking at the completed installation in Blue Tears, the viewer stands beside the seventeen-foot-tall silk organza veils that have a slight motion in response to the air around them. They continue down to the silken imagery of undulating ocean and ice images below. To discover more, the viewer walks around the circumference to see between the layers of fragile, arctic imagery from Greenland and Antarctica.

From a small inflatable boat you focused on fractured ice instead of monumental vistas. What does this shift from the sublime to the granular reveal about climate change for you?

The sublime is awe-inspiring, the granular is an intrigued look at small, subtle details, and both are part of a personal exploration. This shift from sublime to granular is at play throughout the series I love you don’t leave me. The height of Blue Tears references the sublime, while at ground level, the imagery is more life-sized. Then, one by one, throughout the exhibition, the veils float to the floor, the installation is smaller, until, at the end, twisted and skewed, only one veil is left, but the ticking clock continues. Further exploration of the granular is realized in the two-dimensional images that I crop to highlight details in the icebergs and faces of the glaciers. These details are created by moraine that is carried by glaciers for centuries, and ice compressed until the only light it reflects is the deepest of blue. It is ancient ice that has revealed itself.  Captured in photographs, these details are elegant, quiet, and contemplative moments from a bygone era, a record of what remained.

Patricia Carr Morgan | Blue Tears

What materials, printing techniques, and lighting choices were key to achieving the translucent, sculptural presence of ice in the gallery?

For Blue Tears, many substrates were tested.  In addition to translucence, it needed to float down in a gentle manner while also having sufficient body to create the illusion of movement and depth as it rested on the floor.  In addition to those characteristics, because global warming threatens the mulberry trees the silk worms depend on, the silk organza has physical and conceptual qualities that add to the project. Early proofing for body and translucence was conducted in my studio, where I hung half-size veils to experiment with the arrangement of images and the veil separation required for optimal transparency. Stage lighting was used in the museum to achieve optimal translucence.

Patricia Carr Morgan | Blue Tears

What practical and ethical questions did you face while working in fragile polar ecosystems?

I have photographed in Antarctica twice now, and fortunately, it is highly regulated. For safety and preservation reasons, no one is allowed to travel without being part of a group. When on land, to avoid introducing foreign pathogens, there are strict rules against touching rocks or wildlife. Tourism in these regions has become increasingly popular, and I’m concerned that there is insufficient education about the impact glaciers have on everyone’s quality of life.

Patricia Carr Morgan | Hubbard Glacier, Alaska | 2024

Did you collaborate with scientists, guides, or local communities, and how did those exchanges inform the work?

My current project is inspiring. It’s a collaborative project about the Malaspina and Hubbard glaciers in Alaska with Jack Holt, PhD, who measures these glaciers for NASA, and Ozlem Ozgur, PhD, who is the Arts and Culture Producer for AZPM.

We were in Alaska together to document the culture of the Yakutat tribe and their historical connections to the Malaspina and Hubbard Glaciers. The Malaspina Glacier is the world’s largest piedmont glacier, characterized by a terminus of sand and vegetation, while the Hubbard Glacier has a rugged, crevasse-filled surface. I photographed these from a boat and a helicopter, and adding cultural and scientific perspectives creates different and vital imagery that energizes viewer interaction.

Patricia Carr Morgan | Hubbard Glacier, Alaska 2024

Beauty can sometimes anesthetize urgency. How do you negotiate the tension between aesthetic seduction and ecological alarm?

Alarms are ringing about us at an increasing rate, and they are becoming so numerous and sometimes deafening that many have resorted to turning them all off. Instead of sounding another alarm, I want to continue leading people to a personal experience. If, rather than viewing glaciers as a distant stranger, we build a personal connection, there is hope.

Patricia Carr Morgan | Ice Greenland & Antarctica

What responses from viewers have surprised you most?

That people had tears in their eyes during the performance of the falling veils in Blue Tears.