On Earth Day,this show makes you ponder on melting glaciers and global warming For freelance photographer Andre Jeanpierre Fanthome,there has to be a reason for capturing an image. And there is plenty behind his first solo show 32degreeFahrenheit that opens today,on Earth Day,at the American Center. The exhibition displays 21 images,out of the 700 he has clicked,of melting ice sheets,icy-blue glaciers and yawning gorges along the southeastern coast of Alaska. Born in a village in eastern Bhutan where his parents were teaching,Fanthome moved to India when he was 14 and graduated in economics at Delhis St Stephens College. The photographs happened while he was working for a cruise company in the US in 2002-6. While off duty,Fanthome would set off on a boat and capture the floating ice. I was always fascinated by ice,but it took me 10 years to realise what I liked shooting, says the 27-year-old,who has won the National Akademi Award for Visual Art,instituted by the Lalit Kala Akademi. Since his graduation,Fanthome has dabbled in a variety of projects with NGOs,shooting insects and reptiles to earn his pocket money,until his eureka moment in photography happened. I wanted to have an independent exhibition but could never decide on a subject, he says,pointing to the photograph Arctic Effervescence,which finally decided the theme of the show. I clicked this when I was passing by Sawyer Island,which is 4 km north of Sawyer Glacier. It is called a growler,which is washed up on the surface of water by tides. The frame shows a series of blue bubbles in varying shapes stuck together. These are actually ice crystals compressed over millions of years,explains Fanthome,who brushed up on his knowledge of glacial formations for this show. A series of three images shows a 10-storey-high glacial formation breaking off a large ice sheet and plunging into the ocean. A few also depict how life thrives there. A lone mountaineer is shown traversing an ice sheet,which Fanthome labels ice cream for giants for it resembles scoops of vanilla ice cream. A kayaking couple camp at night,near a river bank,with a small glacier washed ashore. Spending time in Alaska,Fanthome became sensitised to the effects of global warming. You do get affected by the damage all around,but I am not being an activist. The idea is to attract people to the images by making them fall in love with them, he says. Show is on till July 2 at the American Center. Contact: 24198000
