This seminar proposes a cryo-visuals approach to examine images of ice as communicative objects, which, beyond the representation of ice, seeks to identify the values, narratives and meanings attached to ice. I draw on fieldwork conducted with guides, porters and tourists in the Solukhumbu (Everest) region to examine digital practices in the tourist encounter and speculate about future directions for the possibilities of digital practices, as to how other ways of knowing Everest ice may become valorised. The history of Everest in visual cultures continues to show how Everest ice and mountain scapes are perceived through technologies of visual cultures today. Digital practices promote the commodification of fragile alpine ecosystems, yet also reveal alternative narratives, values and meanings based on the relationships of those whose livelihoods are dependent on mountainous environments. The talk considers the values of Everest’s ice scapes within locally-bound and across global networks and its consequences.
Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Hilary 2024
Fridays, 12pm-1.30pm
In person at the Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre.
