“From the heat of the African dunes, to the sparkling transparency of Greenland ice, Philippe Alexandre Chevallier gives us the vital message of a fragile and ephemeral beauty that he immortalizes through his photography.
Beyond reality, Alex’s gaze has a much broader, multi-faceted reach:
Aesthetic: his gaze offers us the intense beauty of this frosty immensity, faltering to the rhythm of the variations of light.
Intellectual: his eyes make us understand that this sparkling paradise, rich in natural resources, is a source of greed and object of geopolitical conflicts.
Human: his benevolent gaze observes and shares the dreams, the needs, the challenges of the local populations. Emotional: his gaze dazzled by the excessiveness of this virgin nature, also observes its fragile temporality.
Today, it has been estimated that 22% of the world’s oil and natural gas reserves, along with a wealth of minerals and rare earths, are in the Arctic.
Global warming will facilitate drilling, open new shipping lanes for commercial fleets, destroy villages built on permafrost, jeopardize hunting traditions and thus access to food. Preserving the Arctic is not just about protecting one of the most beautiful regions in the world, helping local people retain the right to live and work on their ancestral lands. It is also protecting our own way of life, our comfort, … maybe even one day, our survival or that of our children. The melting of the icecap of Greenland will lead to an increase of 7 meters of sea level !!!
The intensity of the moment captured by the images Philippe Alexandre Chevallier reminds us that indifference is no longer an option. ”
Doris Biglio
Climate Force Global Ambassador
Philippe Alexandre Chevallier, Ice Memories
January 18 to March 2, 2019
HEGOA Gallery
16, rue de Beaune 75007 PARIS
