The Lewis Glacier, Mt. Kenya, 1963 (B) Possibly 2014 - 2015

Simon Norfolk made this photograph, *The Lewis Glacier, Mt. Kenya, 1963 (B)*, presumably in 1963 using photographic materials. Here the practice of image-making feels like a form of processing or bearing witness, a way of recording changes both natural and human. The photograph’s surface has this beautiful, almost velvety texture that makes you want to reach out and touch it, even though you know you shouldn’t. The contrast between the dark, shadowed mountain and the bright, snaking line of light is really striking. The light itself looks like a kind of wound, a scar on the landscape, but then, there's something beautiful in that, too, like a metaphor for resilience. Norfolk's work reminds me a bit of someone like Edward Burtynsky, who also deals with landscapes altered by industry. The strength of both artists is that they don't preach or offer easy answers. Instead, they present us with these really complex, visually stunning images that invite us to think, to question, and to feel the weight of what we’re seeing.