Brighton artist draws together art history and climate change for BBC

Delving into Emma's own acclaimed drawing and print practice depicting fragile environments undergoing transformation, the programme In Search of the Sublime explored how climate change has altered Alpine mountain vistas around Chamonix-Mont Blanc in France compared to when renowned artists such as Turner visited in the 1800s in search of ghostly glaciers and jagged peaks.

A Royal Academician artist, Emma also draws on location-based research from geologists and other experts. As part of her fieldwork in Chamonix, Emma hikes up the Mer de Glace glacier on the Mont Blanc Massif to sketch in the same spots Turner had in 1802 – finding views radically transformed by the stark retreat of the glaciers which the legendary artist had captured.

Screen shot of how climate change has effected Mer de Glace showing a photo of what is now and a painting of what was by Turner.

The programme explains how the Alps played a key role in the development of ideas around 'the sublime' in the late 18th and early 19th century, when Chamonix became a mecca for tourists, mountaineers and scientists, alongside Romantic artists, poets and writers. Emma also reveals how their historical depictions of the region are now providing insights to glaciologists for their modern-day research.

Emma Stibbon, Senior Lecturer in the School of Art and Media at the University of Brighton, said: “The precarious future of ice sheets and glaciers across the world is a long-standing concern in my work. I aim to associate the effects of environmental change in seemingly remote locations with more local landscapes around southern coastal regions for a forthcoming exhibition at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne.

My field research for this includes a ship based expedition to Svalbard in the High Arctic, as well as documenting coastal regions and flood plains of southern England which are profoundly changing due to sea level rise.”

In Search of The Sublime is available to listen on BBC Sounds.