Visited the Chilliwack Cultural Centre lately?
If so – you would have noticed the three large, blue squares hanging along the east interior lobby wall.
These are three of five pieces that local artist Sylvie Roussel-Janssens has created for her Vanishing Ice exhibit.
The installation illustrates the impacts of climate change. Vast drawings depict the iconic glaciers of the world, which are vanishing over time.
“This installation expresses my fascination for the magical world of ice,” Sylvie says, “but also expresses a sense of loss and anxiety for the future of our natural world.”
Sylvie was inspired by a recent trip to the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains. She had visited that same icy spectacle many years prior, fascinated and able to walk along the icefield. But upon this return, large signs forbid the visitors from doing so due to the remarkable recession of the glacier.
Reflecting on that experience, and the fragility of our northern natural world in time, Sylvie embarked on a journey fuelled by a desire to find solutions, for both our climate and for ecologically friendly ways of exhibiting artwork.
“In a symbolic effort to minimize my ecological footprint, I used recycled plastic waste,” Sylvie says. The five art pieces in the exhibit are loose, light, foldable and inexpensive to produce.
She drew maps of iconic glaciers of the world: the Columbia Icefield, Mont Blanc, Patagonia, the South Pole, and Iceland.
One by one she traced mirror images of the maps onto 11-inch plastic squares, using silver ink on dark blue plastic, and dark blue ink on light blue material. Finally, the squares were sewn together like quilts.
Check out three of the pieces at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre until July. Learn more about Sylvie’s artwork at www.lsclight.net.
