Photo: Camille Seaman
The Distant is Imminent
The Distant is Imminent is new work by Camille Seaman, depicting her still and moving images from Antarctica and the Arctic.
Meant to be projected on the walls of cities most threatened by rising sea waters, a line in Seaman's video depicts where the water level would be in that particular location in 2050, if no action is taken to curb climate change – viscerally showing that while icebergs melting away might feel distant and abstract, it is indeed imminent and personal.
A living artwork, the piece initially covers four locations (more to be added in the coming months) – New York City, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Limerick, where the artist resides.
Do you live in one of these locations? Download the video files from here, and project the video on the walls of your city, to raise awareness about the climate crisis.
“It is estimated that 70,000 Irish addresses are at risk of coastal flooding by 2050. A three meter storm surge to such low lying areas such as Limerick would have devastating effects.”
This work is part of our global art action with Countdown, TED’s global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. We worked with a group of TED Fellows on ten public artworks, all launching on 10.10.2020 in ten cities around the world. The goal – to raise awareness for Countdown, while translating key climate issues in ways that spur imaginations and trigger participation. See all projects here.
Photo: Bret Hartman / TED
THE ARTIST
Photographer Camille Seaman believes in capturing images that articulate that humans are not separate from nature. Born to a Native American father and African American mother, Camille’s sense of connection with nature stems from growing up in the Shinnecock Indian Nation on Long Island, New York, and the influence of her grandfather.
After graduating from the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied photography with Jan Groover and John Cohen, she has spent the last two decades documenting the rapidly changing landscapes of Earth's polar regions. Her photographs have been published in National Geographic magazine, including the April 2010 special “Water” issue as well as a cover and feature story on Antarctica in the July 2017 issue. Her work has also appeared in Outside, TIME, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, American Photo, and German GEO, among other outlets.
Camille has been a TED Senior Fellow since 2013, and was also named a Stanford Knight Fellow and Cinereach Filmmaker in Residence Fellow. She leads photographic workshops all over the globe, and enjoys inspiring others to develop a unique visual voice.