My travels to Nice for the UN Oceans Conference (UNOC) to present at the Albedo Cryosphere Pavilion was a whirlwind of an adventure. Flying into Paris, after grabbing a connecting flight in Reykjavik, I took the 6 hour train adventure to Nice, passing through the beautiful French countryside, spotting the lower Alps in the distance on one side and the coastline on the other.

I arrived in Nice at 10:30pm, too late to explore and absolutely exhausted from the travels, adrenalin and excitement – passing out promptly in my apartment for the week. The following morning I awoke fairly early on a search for coffee and breakfast where I got my first taste of what the week would hold. Delegates from all over the world, driving by in their motorcades on the way to the Blue Zone along the port, zipped by as I found my way to a lovely cafe for a quick bite. I had this day to explore the city, and found myself on a lovely adventure getting lost among the alley ways of Old Nice, eventually winding my way to the Mediterranean Sea. It was quite hot and hazy, and the pace of life there much slower than I am used to here in NY, but it was a welcome reprieve to embrace the lifestyle, culture and food of this pastel city on the sea.

 

The rest of my week was all about UNOC – preparing the panel discussion I had put together – Melting Boundaries: The Vital Confluence of Science & Art In Cryosphere Storytelling which included speakers across both disciplines including Ines Montalvo from Artists With Evidence, Heïdi Sevestre – Glaciologist, speaker and author, Marcela Fernandez founder of Glacier Nation and Tara DePort of Human Impacts Institute. I was also putting the final touches of the launch of Voices From The Melt: Communal Offerings For The Cryosphere – which is one of the public ecoart extensions of my film project With The Meltwaters, So Too We Go. This week was also all about making connections, and I happy connected with other fellow artists and activists – all with a shared love, devotion and mission to protect our precious glaciers and cryopshere.

Both presentations went wonderfully, participants were engaged and interested, and I received several offers to exhibit the work in other places throughout Europe. The opportunity to share my work at such an important, international event is more than I ever thought would be possible, and I am truly grateful for this opportunity and the opportunities that will come from this week.

I have been reflecting lately on my path as an artist – how before it was my goal to be represented by a gallery, to have my works hang in the private homes of collectors or a museum – and how difficult that path was to achieve, and how when I did achieve it, it was not as fulfilling as I hoped it would be. Since i have pivoted from making art for the sake of making art, to making art to making a difference, it has opened up a whole new world of connection and opportunity that I did not think that I could achieve as a self taught artist – and the best part, is that I am able to contribute something that can help to make the world a better place, even though it may be a small contribution in comparison to others – it is a positive one none the less, and might inspire someone else to do the same.

On that note – my experience at UNOC was one I will always remembers, has got my gears turning on some new ideas and I look forward to seeing where the path continues to lead me from here …

PS – I did get to spend one afternoon in Paris before I left to head back home 🙂