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ELLEN DAHL WITH POET HANNAH JENKINS
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'On Water and Time / a glacier leaves a deep cut'
10 April — 16 May 2025
Dark calculations,
I trace them along the slope of the horizon,
the measurement of time is simply the surface of the water, rotating away from the sun.
On Water and Time / a glacier leaves a deep cut brings together new and established strands of Ellen Dahl’s artistic practice and her ongoing creative collaboration with poet Hannah Jenkins.
Working in response to two specific sites, Nordenskiöld Glacier in Svalbard and Jostedalsbreen in Norway, Dahl’s expanded photographic practice—encompassing scale, materiality, still-motion and sound—traces the marks left by the slow, inexorable movements of ice as it carves and erases in equal measure.
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As new snow and ice reform the glaciers, they embed information on the chemical composition of the atmosphere, creating unique high-resolution archives of the planet’s climate. Ice cores extracted from glaciers provide critical data for tracing environmental changes, but as glaciers melt more than the new snow and ice they attain each winter, these frozen records of environmental and climatic history turn into meltwater.
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On Water and Time / a glacier leaves a deep cut considers how these natural archives shift, dissolve, and reveal the impact of human activity on the environment. Photography, video, sound and poetry combine as instruments not of documentation, but of translation: ephemeral whispers accrete into lasting impressions, and immense geological time scales are condensed into the fleeting perception of the present.
Join Verge and the artists on Thursday 10 April, 6-8pm to celebrate the launch of On Water and Time.
Food and drink provided, all welcome.
Image: Ellen Dahl, On Water and Time, video still, 2025, two-channel HD video with sound, 8’50” looped. Image courtesy of the artist.
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Verge Gallery
City Road, Jane Foss Russell Plaza
University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, 2006
Open Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm
Thursday 10am-7pm
Saturdays by appointment
P: (02) 9563 6205
verge-gallery.net
The Edge of Time is Ellen Dahl’s first solo exhibition in the gallery, showcasing her ongoing attraction to places at the edge of the world, alongside her current research on glaciers and their inherent relationship to time. For this exhibition, she has brought together works from two specific sites; the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and Jostedalsbreen (Norway), the largest glacier in continental Europe. Seeking to capture the heightened sense of liminality and edge-ness often felt at these sites, Dahl’s work is conceptually underpinned by trepidation around the Anthropogenic condition and the consequent ambiguousness of overlapping human and geological time scales.
ELLEN DAHL | THE EDGE OF TIME
19 OCT - 16 NOV 2024
THIS IS NO FANTASY
108-110 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy VIC
UNSEEN AMSTERDAM
Westergas, 19-22 September 2024
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Unseen is an art fair dedicated to the latest developments in contemporary photography.
The world of photography is developing at lightning speed. Contemporary photography offers unexpected perspectives and stems from different backgrounds. We see photographers making use of the medium in innovative, intelligent, inspiring and provocative ways.
Unseen connects the new with the established and the established with the new, creating a platform that has become an important insight into the latest developments and directions the medium of photography is taking
Amongst its 65 exhibitors are established international photography and contemporary art galleries, as well as young up and coming initiatives. The fair makes no distinction between galleries in those categories, an approach that is underlined by its iconic circular design.
We are excited to show the work of Ellen Dahl at this year’s Unseen Amsterdam!
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THIS IS NO FANTASY Melbourne
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Issue 46 · May 2024 to July 2024
MAMA National Photography Prize 2024
Winner announced
Selected from 12 finalists by judge Nici Cumpston OAM, Ellen Dahl’s winning work Four Days Before Winter is part of the ongoing project Field Notes from the Edge exploring the peripheral Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard – one of the fastest warming places on earth. The four part work presents close up details of collapsing terrain due to melting permafrost as a result of ongoing coal mining in the region. The series not only brings into question the devastating effects of climate change, but also considers photography’s intrinsic involvement in how we see and feel about the world around us. Originally from arctic Norway, Ellen Dahl now lives on Gadigal Land, Sydney.
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Established in 1983, the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) National Photography Prize is Australia's longest running acquisitive photographic award and offers a unique opportunity to consider the vital role of photography in contemporary art in Australia. The biennial award showcases the work of leading and emerging artists from across the country who are pushing the boundaries of the photographic medium, and challenging existing languages and techniques.
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