A reflection on climate change through art. *Natura Fugit* by Jesús Mari Lazkano.

Jesus Mari Lazkano(Bergara, 1960) uses art as a means of raising awareness and encouraging reflection, with the aim of making viewers more sensitive to the climate-related challenges we face.

From this goal or driving force emerges his new work, *NATURA FUGIT*. It offers a perspective, through painting, on climate change and the responsibility that humans bear for it. The result of an artist residency at the MUN, the Basque artist’s work—which opens today at the Museo Universidad de Navarra will be on display in the “la Caixa” gallery through August 16—presents Jesus Mari Lazkano’s exploration of the transformation that the Mer de Glace glacier in Chamonix, in the Alps, is undergoing and will continue to undergo due to climate change, from the dawn of time to a catastrophic future looming in the years ahead. 

On a personal level, the artist has a deep connection to the Mer de Glace area, a place he has visited on numerous occasions. Driven by his interest in the landscape, he began researching the area, discovering various images and paintings from earlier periods, such as Caspar David Friedrich’s *High Mountain Region* (1824) and a copy believed to have been made by one of his disciples, Carl Gustav Carus. These images reveal a tragic reality: his memories of the place, compared to the condition Mer de Glace was in previously, are cause for concern. 

The comparison of images clearly shows the retreat this glacier is undergoing. A rapid and continuous drop in elevation is evident. This situation prompts him to take action. “I discover that the glacier has receded dramatically, and all of this stirs my conscience and leads me to approach it through art. Certainly, we are very far removed from nature. We think nature has little to do with us, but in reality, we are nature and we are deeply connected to it. That relationship with nature, which has become almost utilitarian, is far more problematic than we realize. I believe that art—and in this case, NATURA FUGIT—attempts to restore that intrinsic and intimate relationship with nature. Until recently, we thought nature was under control, but the latest studies on climate change have shown us that this is not the case,” says Lazkano. 

With that in mind, he notes that it was during his Tender Puentes artist residency Tender Puentes the MUN that he discovered new images of Mer de Glace, specifically a Woodbury-type photograph by S. Thompson, *Mer de Glace, * (1875), which depicts the view toward the Grandes Jorasses from the Montenvers Refuge in Chamonix, as well as a stereoscopic photograph, Mer de Glace, by Adolphe Braun. Following this discovery, he decided to give NATURA FUGIT its current form. The artist created nearly 3,000 large-format pastel drawings, most measuring 90 x 150 cm, though some are 90 x nearly 3 meters, in which he sought to depict the changes Mer de Glace has undergone over the years; from the last Quaternary glaciation to his vision of a final, catastrophic landscape once humanity has completely destroyed the natural environment. These drawings, which he creates, erases, and modifies one on top of the other, are photographed one by one. These photographs allow him to create a stop-motion sequence that in turn gives rise to a 22-minute film, in which the effects that climate change has had and continues to have on the Mer de Glace glacier are shown in motion. 

The exhibition, the artist explains, has a clear objective: "The use of different artistic tools places us within a specific context; it seeks to engage the viewer on an emotional level and raises a debate that I believe is necessary. Art seeks to involve the viewer and make them a participant in a debate. I believe that artists, through art, must raise questions. The artist has a privileged vantage point, and from that position, I believe they must address current concerns and the contemporary debate, and use artistic tools to provide an answer. NATURA FUGIT seeks to pose questions and allow the exhibition visitor to provide answers—or not—to those questions. At the very least, it seeks to make us ask ourselves what we are doing in the face of this phenomenon, how we are participating in it, and what we can do to prevent things from going the way they are. It is a call for a certain degree of personal, individual responsibility, so that things may take a different course. I believe that art can serve as a bridge.”

Alongside this 22-minute film and the drawings, Lazkano presents at NATURA FUGIT a preliminary documentation of his experience and creative process. Visitors will thus be able to familiarize themselves with his working method, with the opportunity to view images, postcards, and documentation—both from the past and materials created by the artist himself today.