Melting Away

Starred review from April 15, 2015

This book documents several visits Seaman made as expedition photographer and sojourner to Antarctica, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Norway's Svalbard between 2003 and 2011. (She stopped going because she couldn't bear to see the devastation wrought by rising temperatures.) The book is astounding proof of the critical role the pictorial arts have in awaking people to the consequences of climate change. Icebergs--hulking, sculptural, wrinkled, crystalline--and the play of polar light on (and within) their surfaces are the author's favorite subjects. Seaman captures magnificent skies, too, and familiar polar fauna, all using few filters and little Photoshopping. In six brief essays, the author discusses her Shinnecock Native American upbringing and its influence on her art, the serendipitous origins of this project and its challenges, and her philosophy. The reproductions are superb, rendering palpable the textures, atmosphere, and colors of far-off places most of us will never see in person. VERDICT In her inimitable way, Seaman writes that she was "recording the voice of these places with my cameras." That voice is quiet and deeply affecting--a relief from the shouted rhetoric that so often accompanies conversation on climate change. A sterling addition to all photography collections.--Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.