A single image captures 140 years of climate change and the attendant melting of the Rhône and Trift glaciers, the latter of which is shrinking faster than any other glacier on the planet.
It is the culmination of an 18-month process in which Fabian Oefner, together with his 20-strong team and in partnership with the glaciology group at ETH Zurich, expertly combined topographical data with long-exposure photographs captured by drones equipped with powerful LED lights. The blue line traced by each drone depicts the contour of the glacier as it has shifted from one year to the next. The result is a fascinating and breathtaking blend of environmental science and light painting.
An explorer and revealer of the invisible, Oefner uses hundreds of meticulously assembled images to create phantasmagorical visions of moments that never existed or are inaccessible to the human eye – phenomena such as sound waves, centripetal forces, iridescence, fluid mechanics, black holes and glaciers.

Fabian Oefner (b. 1984, Aarau) studied at the Visual Art School Basel and graduated from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) with a degree in art and design. Between 2009 and 2012, he served as Leica’s Director of Visual Style for Geosystems. Working closely with scientists from CERN, MIT and ETH Zurich, he produces mind-bending photographs that span the intersection between art and science.

Fabian Oefner. Timelines, Le glacier du Rhône, 2019. © MHL, photographe Margaux Corda