Light. Special Edition

Comte, Michel
Born in Zurich in 1954, Michel Comte trained as an art restorer before turning to photography. His editorial work has appeared in publications including Vogue Italia, L'Uomo Vogue, Interview and Vanity Fair; and he has created advertising campaigns for brands including Armani, Moschino, Mercedes and Jaguar. In recent years Comte has ventured into reportage photography, documenting war and famine in the service of the International Red Cross; in 2004 he founded a foundation to provide drinking water to the Third World. Comte's books with Steidl include Aiko T (2000) and the upcoming One Night in Wien.

Light. Special Edition presents Michel Comte's ongoing exploration of the beauty of glaciers sculpturally defined in light, and how their disappearance evidences the dire nature of global warming. The original three-volume "Light" of 2016 comprises photographs of mystical glacial formations in Switzerland, Nepal, Tibet and the US, which Comte, an avid mountain climber, took mostly from open helicopters, returning to the same places again and again to record changes in landscape and light patterns. Alternating between close-up details, occasional panoramas and suggestive almost abstract structures, Comte reveals both the extraordinary variety of his subject and the undeniable reality of climate change.

Light. Special Edition is completed by "Light I, II, III" and "Light IV," which show how Comte visualizes his concern for global warming in mediums beyond photography-from a huge basin containing melting blocks of ice, to a series of large iron panels treated with over 60 layers of dripping ink, paint, salt dust and oxidizing carbon to resemble a glacier's receding front. These volumes contain comprehensive documentation of both Comte's works and their processes of creation. Regardless of the medium, Comte's goal of raising awareness for climate change is paramount; in his words: "Global warming is real. This is a testament to what nature has given to us. Let us preserve it."