Flux

Flux refers to a group of related works linked by theme. In this group of works, a photograph, captured more than a century ago in Antarctica, was screen printed in carbon dust onto the surface of a block of ice. The instability of the printed surface and distortion of the image was captured through photography and generates an uncomfortable paradox. Namely, the work is experienced through reproduction of the resulting images, instigating an inherent conflict between the assumed permanence of printmaking and the impermanence of ice as an ephemeral support.

While the works reference the collapsing of the Antarctic ice sheets, they also hint at a personal collapse. In Phase Change, a sequence of images, printed on a light diaphanous, fragile-looking fabric, are patched with threadbare, worn-thin, torn-out fragments. Careful stitches anchor shreds of garments worn by Crase during her previous career as a research scientist, during which she forecast the impacts of sea level rise on inter-tidal forests. The patches physically mark the height of global sea level rise (21-24cm) that has occurred since the original photograph was taken in 1912.

Ice Stratigraphy, was a literal block of ice with the carbon dust screen print of Antarctica embedded within it, and lasted only a few hours.

The artist’s book, Trauerarbeit (grief work), presents the melting process and distortion in a sequence of translucent pages, each moment framed like a tiny window into the past. Shortlisted for the Libris Award in 2025.

Carbon Cartography V marks the end-stage of the process of dissoution. The ice melts into a pool of water, the surface encrusted with charcoal powder and gradual evaporation shifts the carbon, incrementally, from water to paper. The dark new cartography alludes to the global-scale changes in landscape, terrain and tide height already recorded.

A stop-motion video, Vanishing Point, tracks the full sequence of melting and evaporation. Endlessly looping, the transience of ice and carbon dust is continually replaced by a chimera of itself. (Not shown on the website).

These works engage with themes of impermanence and futility, echoing the slow collapse of Antarctic ice sheets and glaciers. Hauntingly, in 2025, the International Year of Glacier’s Preservation, the original photograph may have already outlived the landscape it once depicted.

The archival photograph selected for the works was captured in 1912 by Herbert G. Ponting in Antarctica for the Scott expedition to the South Pole, during which all five team members died.

List of works

Ice Stratigraphy, 2025, water and charcoal, dimensions variable.

Phase Change, 2025, digital prints on five panels of chiffon fabric, indigo dyed silk thread, cotton thread, torn clothing worn during projects forecasting impacts of sea level rise on intertidal forests & climate change, five panels each 100 x 140 cm

Trauerarbeit (grief work), 2025, Artist’s book (screen prints on hot press watercolour paper, digital prints on translucent cellulose, marbled mulberry paper, board), 16 x 16 x 100cm, edition 2 of 2

Carbon Cartography V, 2025, Archers BKF 100% cotton paper and powdered charcoal, 50 x 70cm

Vanishing Point, 2025, single-channel video, 2 minutes duration

Installation images Louis Lim.

Ice Stratigraphy, 2025, charcoal screenprint on ice, dimensions variable.

Phase Change, 2025, digital prints on five panels of chiffon fabric, indigo dyed silk thread, cotton thread, torn clothing worn during projects forecasting impacts of sea level rise on intertidal forests & climate change, each panel 100 x 140 cm

Trauerarbeit (grief work), 2025, Artist’s book (screen prints on hot press watercolour paper, digital prints on translucent cellulose, marbled mulberry paper, board), 16 x 16 x 100cm, edition 2 of 2

Carbon Cartography V, 2025, Archers BKF 100% cotton paper and powdered charcoal, 50 x 70cm