By Selva Ozelli
It is fitting that after 2024 was confirmed as the hottest year on record, the United Nations (UN) declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, accompanied by the proclamation that March 21st of each year would be celebrated as World Day for Glaciers starting in 2025.
The hottest year on record, breaching the first year-long global warming threshold of 1.5°C, a key target set in the Paris Agreement, also witnessed the 150ᵗʰ year anniversary of the birth of artist Nicholas Roerich, who is known as “The Master of the Himalayan Mountains.” The Himalayas ⎯ the focus of Nicholas Roerich’s artwork ⎯ have approximately 15,000 glaciers that are melting and could lose as much as 80% of their mass by the end of the century as the Earth’s temperature rises, according to projections. The Himalayan glaciers are a vital source of water for the region’s rivers and communities of 1.65 billion people.
As the planet gets hotter, scientists warn that this signifies a potential “frightening new phase” and increased risks of severe climate change impacts, with our glaciers shrinking, making the water cycle and the currents in the oceans slower and more unpredictable according to studies. Glaciers are crucial for regulating the global climate and providing about 70% of the world’s freshwater. However, for billions of people, meltwater flows are changing, causing floods, droughts, landslides and sea level rise, subjecting countless communities and ecosystems to the risk of devastation.
Four art shows by award winning artists Alfons Rodriguez, Photographer and Filmmaker (Spain), Fatma Kadir (Turkiye), Semine Hazar (Turkiye) Selva Ozelli (USA) at the UN draw attention to the need to protect glaciers, during the high-level inaugural World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day events taking place at the UN in New York and Paris on 20-21ᵗʰ March 2025.
The Melting Age by Alfons Rodriguez & Fatma Kadir at The National Lighthouse Museum (NLHM), Staten Island, NY
The National Lighthouse Museum (NLHM), which educates visitors about the history and technology of the nation’s lighthouses, will host its first Climate change-themed art show titled ”The Melting Age” from March 15ᵗʰ to June 1st, 2025, to celebrate the year of glaciers.
The Melting Age art show is made up of a film, by Alfons Rodriguez and Jose Bautista (Spain); photographs from 7 continents and 30 countries by Alfons Rodriguez (Spain); as well as oil paintings by Fatma Kadir (Turkiye) that depict the impact of Climate Change on our world.
“From hot to cold. It all seems like a grotesque game we force ourselves to play. This is unprecedented lunacy. In Greenland and Antarctica, melting ice caused by warming makes the planet’s sea levels rise, while cooling ocean currents influence wildlife and ecosystems. An excess of salt water contrasts with the waste of scarce drinking water aquifers: we use four liters of water to make one plastic bottle containing the same liquid, and this is quite a moderate proportion compared to other products. I thank the NLHM, Teiduma and Climate Heritage Network, and the UN for their support in bringing the Melting Age art show to the public during the glacier year. The Melting Age will be on exhibit at the tail end of the year during November and December at the Cunneen Hackett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY,” explained photographer and filmmaker Alfons Rodriguez.
Where Worlds Meet – Glaciers by Alfons Rodriguez and Fatma Kadir at the HMVC Gallery, NYC
On March 21st, 2025 the Inaugural World Day for Glaciers, the HMVC Gallery in NYC will hold a 24 hour digital art show of their “Where Worlds Meet” exhibition which will include the mixed media Glaciers art work by photographer Alfons Rodriguez and artist Fatma Kadir at the jumbotron at Times Square, NYC located at 7ᵗʰ Avenue between 47ᵗʰ – 46ᵗʰ Streets.
“I am so excited that out mixed media art work titled Glaciers with Alfons will be seen by so many New Yorkers in Times Square on the first World Day for Glaciers. I thank HMVC Gallery, the Climate Heritage Network, the UN for their support in launching the Where Worlds Meet art show on March 21st. It is a truly historic day, a historic event” said artist Fatma Kadir.
The Lighthouse at the End of the World, by Semine Hazar for CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change in Hong Kong
Semine Hazar an award-winning oil artist of lighthouses explained “The inspiration behind my painting “The Lighthouse at the End of the World” was my trip to Argentina in 2017 when I firsthand witnessed the melting of the ice and with a great sound crash into the sea. This brought tears to my eyes. This lighthouse marks the last inhabitable point in South America. I imagined that soon we would be moving this lighthouse to the Antarctic. The Lighthouse at the End of the World painting is on exhibit at the world’s first climate change museum CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change in Hong Kong. Later this year I will exhibit my “Lighthouses of the Hudson River” series during the year of Glaciers at the Cunneen Hackett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY from July to August followed by the National Lighthouse Museum Staten Island, NY from September to December 2025. I thank all museums, the Climate Heritage Network, and the UN for their unwavering support to bring my work to the public.”
Orcas & Glaciers by Selva Ozelli for CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change
“I made the Orcas & Glaciers art show for the world’s first climate change museum the CUHK Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change in Hong Kong (MoCC) which launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). I contacted Cecilia Lam the Director of MoCC and asked her if she would be interested in an art show about the trapped pods of around a dozen orca whales by drift ice in waters off Japan’s northern island which I read about in the news during February of 2024. I was so upset painting these trapped orcas in drift ice caused by melting glaciers. I thank MoCC, Climate Heritage Network, Global Resilience Partnership, Oceanic Global, and the UN for their unwavering support,” explained Selva Ozelli.
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