Over the past 70 years, the largest glacier in the Dolomites has lost over 80% of its volume and is at risk of disappearing within the next 15 years due to global warming. Portrait of a Dying Queen explores the semiotics of inorganic relationships, focusing on the dialogue between alpine glaciers and the underlying rock formations exposed as the ice recedes. Glacial motion transforms the ice into an active, dynamic force sculpting the mountain surface and preserving the glacier's memories within its layers, valleys, and ravines. It exemplifies dynamic reciprocity, where glacial movement and the malleability of solid rock converge. The inorganic engages with its surroundings, suggesting a consciousness or intentionality. Yet, despite the glacier's continuous formation, it gradually succumbs to stillness as it approaches its demise.

Portrait of a Dying Queen depicts this relationship through a series of still photographs employed as cinemagraphs to produce a moving image work/slideshow. The camera follows the naturally occurring paths in the rock and ice formations, focusing on the accumulation of fragments that constitute the glacier rather than presenting it as one entity, capturing the glacier from its own surface.

The project introduces an auditory layer distinct from the visual portrayal, where the subject is human. My father, an experienced hiker, reflects on his personal experiences with the mountain and shares sentiments about the impending loss of the glacier. This layering aims to juxtapose the glacier's non-human being with human perception and memory of the glacier as a subject. Bearing witness to the subtle dynamics and interactions between the glacier and the mountain, Portrait of a Dying Queen confronts the audience with intricate and sometimes melancholic details of the mountain's inorganic subjectivity.

*The project draws on interviews with experts, publicly available information and on-site observation, to understanding the impact of climate change on glacier behaviour, shrinking and movement patterns.