Diptych – Grinnell North Moraine juxtaposes an early twentieth-century view of Grinnell Glacier in Montana with the way it looks today. The painting belongs to Politics of Snow, Diane Burko’s ongoing series of monumental canvases, begun in 2007, that reveal changes over time in glaciers and remote peaks in Alaska, Montana, Iceland, and the Alps. Burko’s process builds on historical and contemporary photographs that she crops to accentuate and isolate dramatic changes. Her paintings capture both the beauty and devastation of treasured and vital ecosystems, illuminating the real effects of global warming.

From the exhibition: Unstable Ground (February 5 – April 17, 2011)