Photo Fringe 2024

I found a shape of a heart
as cold as it gets
usually I may be looking
for warmth
but this one,
I only wished for coldness
to keep it alive

In the summer of 2021, I visited my grandparents after I moved back home to the Austrian Alps from London. We were looking at their family photo albums together; time well spent. There it was: a photograph of my father and my grandfather standing in front of the glacier, white blankets in the background and then my father’s voice in my ear “I can not believe how much these glaciers have changed already, I am sure they will soon disappear.”

when white blankets will be gone is a multimedia exploration of vanishing glaciers across my home in Austria and the largest glaciers of Europe. Growing up in the Austrian Alps, witnessing the landscapes changing around me, this is a dedicated project to glaciers, rooted in a deeply personal connection to the natural world. Through my grandfather’s photographic and Super 8mm record of glaciers from the early 70’s, particularly in connection with his Alpine Community, this project seeks to bridge the past and the present through a visual, written and auditory journey. I retrace my grandfather’s memories; our eyes meeting across time as we witness the Earth together.

His silent gaze guides me as we seek solace in the past, a stark contrast to the changing world around us. 2025 has now been announced as ‘The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025 and World Day for Glaciers, which has its focus to raise global awareness about melting/vanishing glaciers and what the environmental impacts are because of our forever changing landscape on Earth. This body of work does not only function as a dedication letter to disappearing polar ice, but also to my family who have taught me what it means to appreciate the natural world.

Nina Maria is a London and Tyrol-based photographer and multidisciplinary artist of Austrian origin (b.1998) who graduated in Documentary Photography BA from the University of Arts London. Her work mainly involves alternative processes such as Super 8mm film, analogue photography and the family archive. Nina’s practice is predominantly concerned with vulnerable topics around mental health, womanhood, lens-based memory representation and the natural earth.

She was awarded the DYCP artist grant through Arts Council England, the Goethe Institute project grant and recently the BFI Doc Society film funding. Iceland has become a sacred place for Nina’s practice to develop new and ongoing work. She was one of the selected artists to be part of the ‘Look Into My Ice’, an international exhibition project within the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, focusing on the disappearance of polar and glacier ice.

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Photo Fringe invited artists to propose a single image to engage audiences and help us imagine a greener, fairer world. Artists were asked to respond to the question “How can photography make a difference to the climate crisis?"

The resulting outdoor exhibition of selected images by nineteen artists can be found on Brighton seafront next to the Upside Down House until 17 November 2024.

See all of the images together here

Created with funding from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Fund and the UK government and Brighton & Hove City Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. With print sponsorship from SAS Graphics.

Thanks to our judges Siân Berry, MP and Laura Summerton, Photography Manager, WaterAid.